KOCHI: Excise Minister K. Babu will inaugurate the construction of the new office building for the city corporation, which has been stuck for a couple of years, on Thursday.
Mayor Tony Chammany told reporters here that the building would be completed in 18 months. The basement, ground floor, first and second floors have already been constructed.
It was in 2005 that the work on the new office building with an area of 1,70,000 square feet was started. Though the plan was to complete the project in one year it was dropped due to legal and technical issues with the contractor.
The cost escalated manifold as the contractor demanded tender excess. The actual budget of the project in 2006 was Rs 13.68 crore.
Now, the civic body has included the project under its Mission Kochi programme and resolved the issues with the contractor. The state cabinet has also approved the revised rates for the construction.
The new building will have state-of-the-art facilities, including mini conference rooms on every floor, reception area, bank, waiting rooms, health section and rest rooms, press conference room, video conference hall, urban study centre and town planning room.
“Considering the dynamic growth of the city, the new council hall will have most modern facilities. It can accommodate 200 members with facilities like visitors gallery,” said Mr Chammany.
