The City of Cape Town on Sunday said it would appoint a demolition company by the end of the week to bring down the Athlone cooling towers.

The ailing structures were declared unsafe on 14 February after one of the tower’s support rings started crumbling.

The city went through a three-month tendering process to select a suitable company to oversee the operation.

The city’s Clive Justus said eight companies have expressed interest in the job.

“We were successful in having eight tenders of which seven of them were deemed to be valid. The assessment in terms of the criteria, the price and the timeline are being considered.”

The quotes from the eight bidders range from R4.5 million to R25 million.

Meanwhile, Justus said they were no longer certain the towers would come down at the end of May as was originally announced.