KOCHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the newly-constructed Kochi corporation office at Marine Drive on Tuesday.
Constructed for Rs 61 crore, the building is spread across 1.75 lakh square feet, and has a council hall with 82 seats for councillors, 25 seats for officials, and 640 sq ft of space for members of the media and the public.
“In 2005, then mayor C M Dinesh Mani took the initiative to purchase the land required for the office at Marine Drive from the state government. Based on the design by architect Kuldeep Singh, a tender was issued and construction began.
"However, for 20 years, we couldn’t complete it due to legal and technical complications. After this council came to power, the construction was accelerated,” said Mayor M Anilkumar, appreciating the efforts of former mayors Mercy Williams, Tony Chammani and Soumini Jain in making the building a reality.
The construction began in April 2006. The estimate was revised to Rs 18.75 crore in 2015 and to Rs 24.7 crore in 2018.
“The estimate only included the construction of the structure and lacked necessary plumbing, electrification, lift, council hall, interior works, firefighting, flooring and sewage. Thus, in December 2020, we prepared an estimate for additional works of Rs 43 crore.
"Till December 2020, we spent Rs 15.44 crore. The construction resumed during this council term by paying the amount due to the contractor,” the mayor said. The ceremony will be chaired by Anilkumar.
Ministers M B Rajesh and P Rajeeve will speak.