The list of unsafe buildings has finally been published – Tejaratnews
According to Tejarat News, Zakani opposed the publication of the list of unsafe buildings in Tehran and explaining the reason, he said: “Publishing the list of unsafe buildings in Tehran is a mistake, and if we present the list, no one will stay in the city from tomorrow.” “The problem of these unsafe buildings has only been examined from the point of view of fire, but everything is not fire safety.”
According to Hamemehan, while Hamemehan’s investigations are based on the fire department’s report, out of a total of 129 high-risk and very high-risk buildings, 60 unsafe buildings are located in the first 6 regions, i.e. regions 12, 18, 15, 2, 1 and 20. Zakani is against the publication of this list while some members of the city council have promised the residents of the capital city that they will definitely announce the names of these buildings so that the citizens of Tehran will refrain from going to these centers and places. Maybe people not going to these centers and places will force the owners to secure these very dangerous buildings. Even Mehdi Abbasi, head of the Urban Planning and Architecture Commission of Tehran City Council, agreed to publish the list of unsafe buildings in Tehran and said: “This list should be published, because it is both a legal obligation and the right of the people. But its publication should be done in such a way that it does not cause anxiety in the public mind. Pointing to the impact of the publication of the list of unsafe buildings, he added: “The publication of this list creates social responsibility and public demand, and this public demand leads the owners to secure unsafe buildings.”
In which areas are the unsafe buildings in Tehran?
Although the mayor of Tehran does not want to publicize unsafe buildings and the city council also claims that it does not have statistics on these buildings, the follow-up of the correspondent of Hamehan is as follows: Based on the report of the fire department, out of a total of 129 high-risk and very high-risk buildings, 60 buildings Unsafe are located in the first 6 regions, namely regions 12, 18, 15, 2, 1 and 20. The first eight districts contain more than 74 unsafe buildings. 11 out of 18 high-risk buildings are located in these six areas, and at least five properties owned by the municipality are located in these areas, i.e. areas 15, 1 and 2. Due to the strength of the building and the lack of significant population accumulation, the relatively easy access of firefighting units and more stable conditions, the buildings located in the first zone do not have the priority of immediate and special follow-up. Unsafe buildings in the context of zone 2 also have almost the same situation as zone one. All 8 high-risk buildings located in District 20 are residential and office complexes with dense units and dense population. District 12 has 14 high-risk buildings, all of which are considered dilapidated. The buildings located in the 15th district are the most vulnerable after the 12th district, with the combination of non-standard residential complexes and unregulated commercial places. The mayor of Tehran said, “If we present the list, no one will stay in the city from tomorrow.” It has raised many ambiguities. It means that these buildings are scattered throughout Tehran and their danger is such that no one will stay in the city after the publication of the list!?
There are many old high-rise buildings
Ali Atafa, the former spokesperson of Tehran City Council, told Hamemehan about this: “There is no doubt that these buildings are very numerous, and the publication or not of the list of these buildings will not help to secure it, unless a realistic plan above local administrations and on a national scale to secure buildings in Tehran and the country, but unfortunately we don’t have this program.” He pointed to the preliminary resolution of the fifth term of the city of Tehran (past term) regarding the requirement of the municipality to formulate the safety of unsafe buildings against fire and against earthquakes (building structure) and stated: “We knew that this work is very difficult and requires a serious plan. And the municipality was successful in implementing this resolution to such an extent that it prepared unsafe buildings against fire. The issue of insecurity against earthquakes is a broader and more complex issue. In Tehran, there are many old high-rise buildings that do not comply with the new regulations and are dilapidated. “These buildings are unsafe against earthquakes, and securing them is very expensive and technically more difficult.” Immunization problems do not end there. Legal issues also have a significant impact on the insecurity of buildings. In describing these legal issues, Ali Atafa emphasized: “Issues such as ownership determine the limits of the municipality’s powers, and the rights of the owners resist the positive actions of the municipality, because they have to bear a lot of costs and technical complications for security.” Stating that another legal obstacle is the Article 100 commission’s votes, and the number of them is not small, he added: “For example, in the market area, many residential buildings are used in a high-risk manner (warehouse of high-risk products against fire). Because of this, the structure becomes unsafe. Due to the change of use, it has Article 100 vote and the owner must vacate it and turn it into residential. The owner of any security also knows that it includes the implementation of Article 100 commission. Therefore, the decisions that are made in the city management mainly with timing, have closed their eyes on these issues and nothing has been done after the deadline of this decision.
Certain death of 1.5 million people during an earthquake above 7 Richter
The spokesman of the fifth council of Tehran city said: “The program to secure unsafe buildings requires a national will.” According to the reliable report of Japan’s JICA, if an earthquake above 7 Richter occurs in Tehran, 1.5 million people will die at the moment of the earthquake and another 1.5 million people will die 72 hours later. That is, from the moment of the earthquake to three days later, something as high as three million people died. This is despite the fact that earthquakes in Tehran have a period of time. In a situation where such a threat puts the country’s capital at risk, this work is beyond the scope of local administrations and this will must be created at higher levels. A significant part of these unsafe buildings belong to government offices or are owned by non-governmental public institutions. This diversity of ownership and legal problems are major obstacles to securing unsafe buildings; That too in the conditions where they are very numerous.” Ali Atafa in response to the question, are there any statistics of these buildings? He said: “I dare say that the organization does not have any statistics on unsafe buildings. But Mr. Zakani said that the buildings are supposed to be registered, this is the correct action and the conditions of the buildings should be identified and their level of vulnerability determined in the first step.
Give us the list and we will publish it
But some members of the Tehran City Council promised the citizens of the capital to publish this list as soon as they received it. One of them was Nasser Amani, a member of the 6th Council of Tehran City, who emphasized to his fellow countrymen: “After the Metropol incident in Abadan, the Legal and Supervision Commission and the Urban Planning and Architecture Commission of Tehran City Council asked the mayor of Tehran in a written notice that this list finalize it and provide it to the Tehran City Council. As far as I know, this list has not been provided to the Tehran City Council. The members of the city council had set a deadline of one month for the municipality to provide this list to the people’s representatives in the city parliament. But according to Nasser Amani; “If the municipality does not want to make this list available to the media and people, at least make it available to the Tehran City Council, who are the people’s representatives, so that we can know which buildings are unsafe. If they provide me with this list, I will definitely publish it.” But the serious question here is, based on Amani’s statements, how does the upper body of the municipality, that is, the city council, have access to this information? Isn’t this the weakness of this institution in the sixth period?
The start of an unimaginable project in the municipality
Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, gave additional explanations during his statement yesterday and emphasized: “My statements on Saturday (November 21) were accurate and saying which building is unsafe harms the mind and spirit of the society and endangers the comfort of the people. It causes damage and people cannot live psychologically or physically after the announcement of the names of the buildings. There has never been a serious action in the field of security, but today 9 devices have joined hands and joint teams have been formed in 22 regions to check high-rise buildings up to 6 floors and to check beyond fire regulations. People’s lives are very important to us, and for this reason we have a strict task ahead of us, in such a way that we will prepare a birth certificate for each building, which will determine if the building can be continued and used or if it needs to be renovated and renovated. In this type of buildings, which are in the danger stage, strict regulations will be implemented. What is important is the health and lives of people, travelers and residents at night.” The municipality should have prepared this list and presented it to the Tehran City Council within a month.
Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, in response to the same reporter’s question, why this list has not been prepared yet? He said: “This is not a one-month job. We have a list that is based on a fire characteristic and prepared by the fire department. Currently, 22 teams have been formed for 22 regions and they start their investigations from the tallest building in each region to reach six-story buildings. Although a jihadi activity has started in this case, it will definitely take time due to its scope. This project is very heavy and beyond imagination, because they did not even think about this in the past, but yesterday the teams were sent to the regions. Certainly, this will be a reliable project that will bring many blessings to the city.”
The powerful own the dangerous buildings in Tehran
The opposition of the mayor of Tehran about not publishing the list of unsafe buildings based on the statements of Ahmad Sadeghi, the head of the Transparency and Smart City Committee of the 6th City Council, stated that despite the legality of publishing the list, what prevented the publication of this list was the communication of the owners of large buildings. It is insecure with the pillars of power.
Ahmed Sadeghi told Hamemehan: “These owners are putting pressure on the power of the city administration or they are putting this pressure through the virtual space. Many owners of high-risk buildings pressure the city administration not to announce the names of their buildings. The owners of these buildings are either government organizations and bodies or owners of large commercial and office buildings. In fact, by announcing the names of these buildings, the interests of many people are endangered, and therefore they do not want to announce the names of their buildings as high-risk buildings, but the Tehran City Council is seriously pursuing the security of these buildings during this period.” He adds: “The publication of this list must be based on the law, and recently I heard that the publication of some of these names requires judicial orders. “If this list is not legally prohibited, we should publish it, and its publication will create safety, not psychological atmosphere.”
The list of unsafe buildings in Tehran is not confidential
After the collapse of the Plasko building, it was on the firemen that the city managers thought of preparing a list of unsafe buildings. In 2009, with the explosion of the Sinai Clinic, urban reformist managers announced the identification of unsafe buildings in the capital by the fire department and announced: “In 2018, the fire department identified more than 33,000 unsafe buildings (in terms of fire) in Tehran.” 360 unsafe buildings in Tehran needed serious intervention, but the controversial list, which became known as the list of very dangerous buildings in Tehran, included 129 buildings. The list that the former head of the reformist council of Tehran city council cited security pressures as the reason for its disclosure and non-disclosure, and after that, several former members of Tehran city council also reported security pressures in various interviews to prevent this list of Tehran’s red buildings from being published in the media. But the collapse of the Metropol building in Abadan again made the media to demand this list. According to city managers, from hospitals and medical centers to government offices and private company buildings, the most dangerous buildings in Tehran are mentioned in this list.
Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, the Attorney General of the country and the head of the Special Clergy Court, announced in a TV program: “Unfortunately, in these cases, different departments are somehow looking for the culprits to put the blame on someone else. Tehran Municipality, the Organization of Engineering, Road and Urban Planning and other responsible bodies in the prosecutor’s office should determine and examine each of these cases (unsafe buildings that endanger people’s lives) so that a decision is made, provided that any decision The prosecutor asked them to act on it. In the same TV program, he emphasized: “The list of 129 very dangerous buildings in Tehran is not secret and there is no problem in publishing it.” Ali Salehi, the prosecutor of Tehran, also said in this regard: “From the prosecutor’s point of view, there are no restrictions on announcing the names and information of unsafe and dangerous buildings and places in Tehran, which have been interpreted as critical buildings; Does not exist.” Therefore, the publication of this list does not have a confidential seal. It was on July 14 this year that a list of unsafe buildings in Tehran was published. Some members of the city council and city managers neither confirmed nor denied this list. Mohammad Salari, the former head of the Urban Planning and Architecture Commission of Tehran City Council, confirmed that many of the buildings published in this list are unsafe. At the same time, many members of the Tehran City Council announced the preparation of a new list of unsafe buildings in the capital, and this list was supposed to be quickly prepared and presented to the Tehran City Council. The members of Tehran city parliament also promised that this list will be published in the media.