Works on the Coastal Museum are gaining pace after being held up initially owing to delay in clearances from the authorities.
Being constructed on the premises of the 127-year-old Victoria Jubilee Museum (VJM), works on the ground and first floors are already over, while the contractor is yet to commence works on the second floor.
According to officials, the Archaeology and Museums Department has prepared proposals in 2011 to construct a three-storeyed structure on the open space abutting VJM to display unique objects and artefacts.
Plans were also prepared to complete the work by the end of 2013 but when officials began to remove some decades-old trees from the premises to pave way for construction of the new building, the district administration directed them to stop the work in June 2014 after taking a serious note of public opposition to felling of trees.
After a series of meetings with Forest Department officials, the Archaeology and Museums Department secured permission after a month to take up construction on the condition that the trees should be translocated to another place. Even as the department geared up to set the project in motion, shortage of sand hit the construction.
The contractor waited till sand supply improved in the city and then began the works. “As of now, works are going on at a brisk pace. We are hopeful of completing it within a few months,” said Archaeology and Museums Department Assistant Director S. Bangaraiah on Friday.
The construction of the museum is taken up at a cost of over Rs. 4.8 crore secured as grant under the 13th Finance Commission.
The upcoming structure, once completed, will be the biggest museum in Andhra Pradesh in which excavated material, inscriptions, paintings and other unique objects from all coastal districts will be displayed.
