Unsafe Kuwait Tower likely to be razed

The Sharjah Municipality is seriously considering to revoke the building permit given to Kuwait Tower, the 14-storey residential tower, which went up in flames on Tuesday evening causing severe loss to residents apart from weakening the building structure.

Sources in Sharjah Police told Emirates Business that the shops and establishments operating from the ground floor of the building have been asked to vacate.

And residents have not been allowed to return to the building due to its current weak condition and also to safeguard the valuables in the apartments.

The Sharjah Municipality has put up a safety wooden fencing around the building.

The municipality is now testing the concrete and other materials to ascertain the strength and age of the building.

As the fire raged for more than six hours, the building structure, especially its concrete beams could be partially broken and the steel in concrete melted.

A police source, on condition of anonymity, said: “The fire could have been caused either by an electrical short circuit or from the gas supply network.

The building is more than 32 years old and it was not maintained properly.

The building permit of Kuwait Tower and a couple of other very old buildings adjacent to it are being reviewed now.

The fire caused further deterioration of the old buildings strength.”

He added that it was unlikely the building licence will be renewed. Due to its weak structure, the municipality is seriously considering to demolish the structure and construct a new building there.

Some of the residential towers in the area are maintained poorly with visible marks of water leakage that can cause electric short circuits.

If the fire was caused by an electric short circuit, it could be confined to a few flats but the entire building going up in flames indicate the possibility of piped gas leakage following the fire, a source said.

They added that the piped cooking gas network in the building could have caused the spread the blaze in short time.

Kuwait Tower has been one of the several old buildings in Sharjah where centralised piped cooking gas is distributed.

While some families were having cooking gas cylinders that they kept for emergency use, most of the flats were connected to the piped gas network.

As a preliminary step of fire fighting, the Civil Defence Team disconnected both electricity and gas connection to the building.

It is not known whether there was any cylinder or tank to store and release the piped gas to the flats.

Kuwait Tower, one of the landmark buildings in the area, is 32 years old or even more, said some residents.

While construction experts said the average life of a residential building is between 20 and 25 years, building owners get extension after producing fitness certificate.

There are many crowded residential buildings (more than 25 years) in Sharjah with extended licence.

An official from the Media and Public Relations Department of Sharjah Municipality said the issue is handled by the Engineering Department, which takes care of building permits, building control section and building demolition section.

Nobody from the Engineering Department of Sharjah Municipality was available for comment. A spokesman of Sharjah Police said he cannot comment on the case which is handled by Sharjah Civil Defence.

Meanwhile, some residents continue their search for valuables and documents from the fire debris and some have been lucky to spot gold ornaments from their rooms.

They fear there is no insurance coverage for their burnt assets and will have to start from the scratch again.

“We get only 15-20 minutes to search for our valuables from the debris.

Some are lucky to get some melted gold ornaments, but others could not,” said a resident who searched his flat.

An official from Arabian Insurance Company said: “Normally we don’t cover very old buildings, but if it is properly maintained with sufficient fire fighting system in place we do a survey before giving insurance protection. If the building is poorly maintained and not clean, no insurance company will cover it. The valuation of very old buildings deteriorate and companies charge very high premium.”

It is not sure the Kuwait Tower is properly insured against fire risks or the residents come within the insurance coverage.

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