Gauteng infrastructure development MEC Tasneem Motara has expressed her satisfaction at the successful implosion of the old Bank of Lisbon building in the Johannesburg central business district on Sunday morning.
The 22-storey building was demolished within less than 30 seconds as thousands of Johannesburg residents watched in awe. The demolition follows a deadly fire in September last year, which claimed the lives of three Johannesburg firefighters. It was subsequently declared unsafe and earmarked for demolition.
Speaking after Sunday's implosion, Motara said the demolition had cost the city R90-million so far. “The experts said that this was one of the most difficult demolitions they had to work on. This brings us to an end of an era. There has been no damage to [other] property and no-one has been hurt," she said.
Motara added that 894 kg of explosives had been used to implode the building. The department had budgeted R140-million for the demolition project and R90-million had been spent to date.
"We will build a new facility to accommodate GPG [Gauteng provincial government] departments," she said.
About 2 000 people were evacuated from other buildings near the Bank of Lisbon building before the implosion.