A banana isn't strong enough to create that kind of damage! I think the concrete was damaged already and even then I have my doubts.

Killing a banana is out of the question in my opinion...

Simon

Bananas don't "take over".

Your friend must be thinking of runnning bamboo, or kudzu, Japanese knotweed, or water hyacinth, or maybe ignorance, which spreads very aggressively.

The Musa genus of banansa will put up pups, but these are attached to the base of the main plant, not 20 feet distant in all directions. After several years of no pruning, you will have a fairly tight clump of ever-larger pseudostems, which is exactly what most bananas growers want anyway.

Some genus of bananas, like Ensete, don't even pup, have only one pseudostem, which dies after flowering/fruiting.

Banana roots are not woody and hard and ever-expanding like tree roots and don't crack pools or building foundations or pipes.