Losses incurred by the State Bank of India (SBI) in the Café Tiolo fire amount to MVR 16 million.
Speaking to RaajjeMV, the bank’s Malé branch CEO, Bharat Mishra revealed that the third floor of the building where SBI is located, incurred the most extensive damage. The building houses SBI offices on five floors. Mishra noted that they had “never imagined” the damage would be of such “high intensity”, noting that there was no evidence of fire in the ground floors, which was flooded. According to Mishra, the second and third floors incurred the most damage, by 80 percent. The fourth floor was damaged about 25 – 35 percent and the eighth, only about 20 percent where only one cabin was entirely burned.
While SBI resumed services less than 24 hours since the fire broke out in its Hulhumalé branch, Mishra revealed that they had rented two floors from another building due to lack of space. Highlighting that renovation work is currently underway at the burned building, the CEO stated that they will only be able to resume services at the main building in November.
According to Mishra the moment they are given the green light to restart work they will commence. It may take about one-month time to restore. Some floors can be readied at an early date where damage is less, said Mishra.
While SBI resumed services to customer on August 30, Mishra noted that it was a challenge they had accepted to open doors for services, in less than 24 hours.
Stressing that they will only be able to start little by little and that they expect to open up the ground floor as well as the fourth and eighth floors first, Mishra noted that it may be a while before they can open up the second and third floors for services, due to the extent of damage. Mishra added that their current focus is to provide uninterrupted services for customers and that they will manage in small spaces, in the face of such a crisis.
SBI building caught fire on the night of August 28, after a fire that broke out in Café Tiolo spread to the top floors of the building. No injuries were reported during Friday night’s fire, and the cause of the fire is yet to be determined as well.
