Is the Eiffel Tower in danger? ” Nope !protests the president of the Eiffel Tower operating company (SETE). All the experts who have examined it note the general good condition of the structure. » And Jean-François Martins to castigate “those sour people who throw stuff out of nothing in the press”.
In fact, it is an article of Marianne, published on June 29, which launched the alert. It mentions three confidential reports (from 2010, 2014 and 2016) produced by specialized companies. These documents would describe a worrying situation. In 2014, for example, indicates the weekly, Expiris notes that the paint is peeling, cracking and that the iron is rusting. Too many coats of paint overlapped, and only 10% of the paint on the tower ” is holding “ yet, according to the company’s report quoted by Marianne : “It is not possible to foresee a new application of a coat of paint, which will only accentuate the risk of total loss of adhesion of the system. » Finally, in 2016, the report carried out by SLH Ingénierie listed 884 ” defaults “ on the tower. Among them, 68 disorders come under“a modification of the structure which calls into question its durability”.
What about? The municipal majority led by the socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, refers to SETE. And Jean-François Martins is annoyed by“statements that prove nothing. It excites people; it’s part of the “ransacking of Paris”…” (from the name of the collective which regularly denounces on social networks the state of cleanliness of the capital). The president of SETE recalls that there are 884 faults out of the total of 18,000 parts making up the tower. As for the 68 most serious points, “they are part of the intervention program started in 2019 and which should end in 2024. For now, 6 are treated, but they will all be treated”.
A “well-supervised and maintained” tower
For Mr. Martins, the flaking of the coating is superficial, linked to the product used during the facelift of 2002. But the iron, under 60 tons of paint, is in good condition, he assures. He wants proof of this by the complete stripping of the south-east decorative arch. “For the first time in 130 years, all the paint has been removed from part of the monument.he explains. We discovered that the iron is in an irreproachable state, incredible even. »
Even if the renovation campaign started in 2019 will only reduce “5 to 10%” of the monument (against 30% envisaged), even if the budget exploded (from 40 to 82 million euros) due to the discovery of lead, delays, Covid-19, “the tower has never been as well watched and maintained as it is today”points out Mr. Martins.
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