Chief Secretary K. S. Sripathi on Tuesday inspected the restoration work at Victoria Public Hall. The Chennai Corporation has initiated the restoration at a cost of Rs.3.06 crore.
The Chief Secretary was briefed about the various repairs to be carried out on the wooden rafters, roof tiles, turret, doors, windows and staircases.
It would take 18 months to complete the work of restoring the building.
The contract for the project had been awarded on March 1.
The central sanctioning and monitoring committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Mission (JNNURM) approved the Chennai Corporation's proposal in February last year. The bid amounts received the first time were too high and therefore cancelled.
Subsequently the works were spilt into two parts and the work order for Rs.30 lakh was issued in December 2009. The building, an example of Indo Saracenic architecture, was constructed by Namperumal Chetty ithe 1880s.
According to a release, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department Secretary Niranjan Mardi, Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni, Joint Commissioner (Works) Ashish Chatterjee and Chief Engineers Murugesan and Vijayakumar accompanied Mr.Sripathi during the inspection.
