MMRDA floats tender for Balasaheb Thackeray memorial

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has floated a tender for the Balasaheb Thackeray Smarak and the name of the builder will be finalised after a month. The estimated cost of construction of the memorial is Rs 87.46 crore. A few days ago, the state government had announced that construction work would start soon.

The proposed “Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Museum” will be constructed at the mayor’s bungalow located at Veer Savarkar Marg, Dadar. It will be a 9,000 square feet construction. The mayor’s bungalow has been included in the notified heritage list under grade two B category. The construction of the museum will be underground. The total area of the mayor’s bungalow is 2,300 square feet. But there is not enough space for the new memorial museum at the given place and hence, it has been decided that the construction of the memorial will be underground to retain the sanctity and scale of the existing bungalow and memorial’s height would be only 1.5 metre above ground level.

The repair work for the mayor’s bungalow will also be carried out while constructing the memorial. After that, the bungalow will be converted into a museum. This work will also include the beautification of the mayor’s bungalow.

One of the conditions in the tender is that the construction of the memorial should be carried out without giving any jolt to the mayor’s bungalow, which is a heritage structure. Heritage architect Abha Lamba has designed the new plan. The mayor’s bungalow was constructed in 1928. The BMC bought this bungalow in 1962.