The Indian Express 04.12.2013
‘Top’ architects to build Panchkula MC office
After operating from a community centre for the past twelve years,
the Panchkula Municipal Corporation (MC) will finally have an office of
it’s own.
The MC will invite ‘top’ architects to construct the office
building at the finalised site in Sector 3 here. While the MC will soon
get the possession of the land where the building will come up from
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), it will open the tenders for
it’s construction on December 12.
While the MC is currently functioning from the Sector 4 community
centre, it has been allotted 1.85 acres by HUDA at Devinagar, Sector 3
for Rs 10. 48 crore. MC has already paid 25 per cent of the amount, Rs
2.62 crore to HUDA as the earnest money for it. “The tenders will be
opened on December 12, and soon the construction of the building will
start. The construction would take about two years, after which we will
vacate the current premises,” said O P Sihag, Executive Engineer. We
have invited tenders from architects with minimum ten years of
experience and who has more than five big private or government
buildings to his name, he added.
The MC also plans to make its new home an eco-friendly one. “The
building will have an integrated rain water harvesting system and will
also have solar panels installed. There would be more such green
initiatives, and the building would be on the lines of the
energy-efficient Akshay Urja Bhawan, office of the Renewable Energy
Department and Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) in
Secor 17,” Sihag informed.
Moving into a new building would, however, be a costly affair for
the MC. Other than the Rs 10.48 crore to be pad for the plot, the
construction is estimated to cost around Rs 7 crore. In it’s 2013
budget, the MC had set aside Rs 5 crore for the construction and the
repair of the office building. “The construction of the building would
be for once and for all and we plan to make it a striking building. This
might even require revising the budget for it next year,” Sihag said.
The MC had received flak from residents of Sector 4 for not vacating the
community centre. It has been functioning from the community centre
since 2001. In October, the Resident Welfare Association, Sector 4 had
filed a public interest litigation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court
asking MC to vacate the centre. The MC had then assured the High court
that it would vacate the centre within two years as it had already been
allotted land for its new building.