Tigo head offices safe, engineers say

According to Tigo head of Operations Deon Geyser, the management decided to halt business on Monday to pave way for investigations of the status of the structure. 

In Summary

“We don’t take any safety incident lightly, however, simple as it may appear,” Mr Geyser said in a statement circulated to the media.

Dar es Salaam. Safety fears that occupants and residents living close to Derm House, which is the headquarters of a mobile firm, Tigo, have been arrayed following investigations by experts.

On Monday, an emergency alert over safety of the structure was raised following information that the building, allocated at Makumbusho along Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, had shown signs of collapsing.

The alert forced both Tigo staff and occupants of nearby buildings to be evacuated, with support from the police, from the area. Speaking to The Citizen over the phone yesterday, however, Kinondoni Regional Police commander Camillius Wambura said preliminary reports by municipal engineers and the contractor of the building established that it was safe for use.

“The engineers from two parts have established that the tiles on the fourth floor were cracking because of expansion caused by heat as it had not been opened for a long time,” Mr Wambura explained. Following the emergency alert on Monday Tigo ordered a temporary closure of its head offices to pave way for investigations by experts.

However, yesterday business at the building resumed, according to Mr John Wanyancha, Tigo’s Corporate Communications manager.

According to Tigo head of Operations Deon Geyser, the management decided to halt business on Monday to pave way for investigations of the status of the structure.

“We don’t take any safety incident lightly, however, simple as it may appear,” Mr Geyser said in a statement circulated to the media.

However, he said, there were no injuries or property loss from the incident.

“We want to assure our customers and the general public that our network and services are not affected,” he said.

The mobile phone company, according to Geyser, moved its head offices into the leased building in 2012. Since then there has been no single safety risk incident. Tigo is the single tenant in the entire eight-floor structure