E-Paper
No contractor, heritage architect for Capitol Complex restoration
Despite several attempts,the Chandigarh administration is yet to appoint a contractor for restoration and management of buildings and monuments in Capitol Complex
Despite several attempts,the Chandigarh administration is yet to appoint a contractor for restoration and management of buildings and monuments in Capitol Complex in Sector 1, Chandigarh. The project is also without a heritage architect.
The contractor will undertake the preservation and restoration work, while consultant will prepare a restoration plan for the UNESCO world heritage site in Sector 1.
The Punjab and Haryana civil secretariats, legislative assembly of the two states and the Punjab and Haryana high court are part of the heritage complex. The buildings, designed by French architect Le Corbusier, were constructed between 1955 and 1958. The capitol complex was declared a UNESCO heritage site in 2016.
Admin refloats tender for civil work
It is for the third time in eight months that the UT engineering department has floated a tender inviting companies to undertake the ₹25-crore project of restoration, preserving, conserving and managing the Punjab and Haryana civil secretariat building.
No company came forward to take up the project when the administration floated a tender in August last year for the first time. Even after engineering department relaxed the eligibility conditions in October last year there were no takers for the project.
“While the restoration and preservation work on the legislative assembly and high court has been started, the work on the secretariat buildings is yet to be taken up. The successful contractor has to complete the work in 12 months’ time,” said a senior UT official privy to the development.
Under the project, the secretariat building is to be restored in its original form. It involves work primarily on the sealing and flooring, the cost of which is pegged at around ₹19.85 crore. For piping and other public health works, the administration will spend another ₹2.60 crore, and for the electricity work, a budget of ₹3 crore has been sanctioned.
No heritage architect on board
Ever since June last year the Mumbai-based heritage architect Abha Narian Lambah left the project midway, the project is without a consultant which is required to prepare the conservation and management plan for the entire complex.
The administration is yet to start the process of reappointing a conservation architect. The administration had appointed Lambah for three years. Her tenure was to end in 2020.
Stressing the importance of appointing a heritage architect for the project, former UT chief architect Sumit Kaur, said, “Heritage preservation and conservation is a specialised field, and can be only taken up by an expert in the field. The Capitol Complex in Sector 1 was part of a trans-national dossier on the works of Le Corbusier, jointly submitted to UNESCO by seven countries for the world heritage status. It is the responsibility of the administration to stick to the commitments made in the dossier and to restore the complex to its original glory.”
Significantly, the administration has also sought help from the French government.
In February, a French delegation led by Brigitte Bouvier, director of a France-based foundation had visited the city to hold discussion with the administration on issues related to preservation and restoration of heritage buildings and items. The team also submitted a report to the administration on the preservation work done so far. As of now, no agreement has been signed between the French and Indian authorities.
