Deadline over but 30% work on Sectt parking still pending

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 12

Around 70 per cent work of the parking project at the Civil Secretariat here has been completed by the June 30 deadline.

A multi-storey parking for 123 cars and 60 scooters is being constructed at the rear of the Armsdale building here at a cost of about Rs 40 crore. The total area of the eight-storey building with a basement and an attic is 11,102.75 sq mt but the actual parking space is less than 50 per cent.

Rs 21.12 crore already spent

The new parking building with two blocks will be connected with the Armsdale building. A sum of Rs 21.12 crore has been spent on the project up to March 31, 2021, while Rs 18.05 crore is required to complete the work. —Suresh Kapoor, Superintending engineer, PWD

The total height of the structure having eight floors, a basement and an attic is about 24 metres and the average height of every floor is around three metres. The project was slated to be completed by June 30 this year but the work was stopped due to the danger to adjoining buildings and because trees had not been felled.

The branches of the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and State Cooperative Bank and the office of the Tribal Development Department will be located on the seventh floor, while the eighth floor will accommodate officers’ cabins, Disaster Management cell, a dining hall and the pantry. The conference hall, meeting hall and the command and control centre will be located at the attic.

“The new parking building with two blocks will be connected with the Armsdale building. A sum of Rs 21.12 crore has been spent on the project up to March 31, 2021, while Rs 18.05 crore is required to complete the work. About 70 per cent of the work has been completed and the remaining will be completed before the deadline of December 31,” says Suresh Kapoor, Superintending Engineer, PWD, Shimla division.

The work on the roof of Block-I is complete. The laying of tiles and the internal finishing work are in progress while the flooring work in Block-II has been completed. The shuttering of the attic floor and the plastering work are in progress, he adds.

The basement measuring 68.52 sq mt is meant for parking scooters while the first floor measuring 838 sq mt has a parking space for three cars and 30 scooters. The remaining area will house three dispensaries. The second floor measuring 1,085 sq mt will have a facility for parking 24 cars, besides rooms for drivers and chowkidars. The third (24), fourth (36) and fifth (36) floors will have dedicated parking spaces for 96 cars.