In 12½ seconds, two of India’s high-rise apartment towers will become rubble
Live MintThe two high-rise towers that arose on the outskirts of India’s capital a decade ago were meant to be the first homes for some of the country’s upwardly mobile middle class. “This is going to be the largest building demolition in India," said Debi Prasanna Kanungo, a scientist with the government’s Central Building Research Institute, which is overseeing the event. “It takes a lot of time, it’s very costly and it’s dangerous because you have lots of people working at heights," said Joe Brinkmann, managing director of Jet Demolition Ltd., a South African firm that is working with India’s Edifice Engineering, the company that is managing the demolition for Supertech Ltd., the midsize local developer that built the towers. If all the explosives were to be ignited simultaneously, Mr. Brinkmann said, the towers would fall straight down, which would pose greater risks for adjacent buildings, as well as a nearby gas pipeline. Preparation to blow up the Supertech towers began almost six months ago, said Mr. Brinkmann of Jet Demolition.