New Building Will Be Demolished Before Occupation

30 August 2018 Kuwait

 A building will be demolished even before it was occupied?! This is the case with the new building of Kuwait General Administration of Customs (KGAC), reports Aljarida daily. Due to several reasons, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has concluded in its findings that the building, which has not been handed over to KGAC since its construction 30 years ago, is structurally unsafe.

It explained that the building suffers from severe corrosion in the reinforced steel and deterioration in the reinforced concrete of some pillars of the basement and walls. This has raised doubts and uncertainty about the structural integrity of its foundations.

In its report, which was presented recently to the Council of Ministers and was attached by Minister of Finance Nayef Al-Hajraf in his response to a parliamentary question from MP Adel Al-Damkhi, KISR recommended conducting a feasibility study concerning the maintenance and rehabilitation of the building.

It stressed that the cost for the maintenance of the building will be very high especially since the building’s life span is about to end. In light of KISR’s report, KGAC officially submitted a letter to the Council of Ministers, requesting the demolition of the existing building and the establishment of a new one in its place.

This decision was aimed at ensuring structural safety and integrity as well as meeting the current and future customs requirements. In fact, the organizational structure of KGAC has grown by more than 200 percent but the current building does not have the capacity to accommodate more than 50 percent of the management staff.

The Council of Ministers then issued a decision, instructing KGAC to take the procedures it deems appropriate concerning the building for achieving structural safety and meeting its needs. It is worth mentioning that Ministry of Public Works started designing and constructing the main building of Kuwait General Administration of Customs in 1986 and completed it in 1997. However, as per KISR’s report, the building, after the preliminary handover, was discovered to have several technical and structural defects that prevented it from being handed over permanently.

 

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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