Unity to do Mantralaya revamp

After almost five months, the state government seems to have finalised Unity Infrastructure for the Mantralaya renovation project with a bid of Rs138 crore.

Even with their earlier bid of Rs163 crore, Unity was the lowest bidder. Shapoorji Pallonji had quoted Rs167 crore and L&T, Rs177 crore. These were much higher than the state’s estimated cost of Rs110 crore.

Initially, they had decided to renovate only the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, but later decided to include the lower floors as well. The project is expected to begin by December and finish within six months.

The cost of repairs and renovation of three floors that were affected by the fire on June 21 had escalated from Rs81.64 crore, which was approved by the state cabinet in August, to Rs110 crore when the bids were called. Despite this rise, the bids they received were even higher. The government then held a round of negotiations with the bidders, after which Unity lowered their price.

A redevelopment plan had also been proposed both in 2001 and 2004.
The 2008-09 plan was mooted with an estimated expenditure of Rs325 crore, but the proposal ran into trouble due to differences between the NCP and Congress.