Some 800,000 buildings should be demolished: Concrete association president

Aysel Alp - ANKARA

Some 400,000 buildings each in Istanbul and in the western province of İzmir should be demolished as they were constructed before 1999, said Yavuz Işık, the president of the European and Turkish Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

“Due to time, there occurs concrete fragmentation and iron corrosion in buildings. So we have to figure out and crush them down,” Işık told daily Hürriyet in an interview.

In 1999, before the Gölcük earthquake, which killed around 20,000, the C10 type of concrete was sufficient to construct buildings. With time some stronger concrete such as C20 and C30 were preferred and became compulsory to use.

According to the official, one-third of the 1.2 million buildings in İzmir and one-fourth of 1.6 million buildings in Istanbul were constructed before 1999. “Most of these structures are schools, hospitals and dormitories,” Işık added.

Underlining fact and solution both for İzmir, Işık said: “There is a stock of decayed structures in İzmir. We have to evacuate these buildings as soon as possible. And it would take only six months to report all these structures.”

Işık, especially, remarked the districts of Bayraklı, Bornova and Balçova. “In these regions, the soil is not strong for perpendicular urbanization. A maximum of four floors of buildings should be allowed there.”

For Istanbul, Işık said the metropolitan municipality has started a research in troubled districts like Büyükçekmece and Avcılar.

“In Istanbul, each person out of four is in danger. I mean, 1.6 million lives are in question. If we can’t finish this urban renewal before the expected Istanbul earthquake, we will lose one-third of the city.”

The official also revealed the cost of this renewal.

“We need around $5 billion. Citizens can’t afford this. We will need the public administration to solve it with 20 or 30 years of loans,” added Işık.