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| November 13, 2007 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 02, 1428 |
KARACHI: Fate of gallery project hangs in the balance
KARACHI, Nov 12: The fate of the Fayzee Rahamin Art Gallery and Auditorium project hangs in the balance as the city government’s efforts to award a contract for the completion of construction work, which was abandoned halfway 14 years ago, have twice come unstuck.
Sources in the city government said now another attempt was being made to complete the project, which had been approved the Sindh government on March 17, 1992. The defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had started work on it on May 3, 1992 with an estimated cost of Rs69.766 million. According to its schedule, the project was supposed to be completed in 1994.
However, work on the project was suspended in April 1993 and since then successive governments, taking least interest in its revival, diverted the funds allocated for the project to other development schemes in the metropolis.
In a bid to complete the project, sources said, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal directed the authorities concerned to issue notices to the previous contractor, asking him to complete the project. However, the contractor did not turn up and the city government invited fresh tenders for the project.
Failing to get the desired response, the city government re-invited tenders. However, no contractor showed interest in taking on the abandoned project. Now again, sources said, the city government has invited tenders for the third time.
An official of the works and services department told Dawn that the estimated cost of the remaining work was Rs130.589 million. “Contractors avoid taking interest in completing the remaining work of others usually,” he said, adding that it was due to this reason that the project was suffering.
According to the project’s plan, it is a three-storey building with an auditorium and lobby on the ground floor, an exhibition hall on the first, and an audio and visual library on the second floor. Offices would be constructed on the third floor while open space would be left on the top which could be used for functions, he added.
Talking to Dawn, the nazim said the city government was striving hard to get the Fayzee Rahamin Art Gallery and Auditorium project, located near the Arts Council, completed at the earliest so that the whole area could be turned into a centre of art and culture. The city government, he said, had fulfilled all legal requirements before inviting fresh tenders. “I want to see this project completed as soon as possible though it would take one and a half years to complete after the contract is awarded,” he added.
Married to the distinguished Turkish-born Attiya Begum (1877-1967), Fayzee Rahamin was a seasoned painter in his own right. Abjuring his Jewish faith, he embraced Islam at Attiya Begum’s insistence. (Attiya Begum was a Sulaimani Bohra). Fayzee Rahamin was at one time the art tutor of Mary of Teck, queen consort of George-V of the Great Britain. The two distinguished Pakistanis, who, at the time of independence, were invited to make Karachi their home by the Quaid-i-Azam. The couple sold their house, the Aiwan-i-Riffat, in Mumbai and moved to Karachi.
According to the plan, the Fayzee Rahamin Art Gallery in Aiwan-i-Riffat will feature personal effects of Attiya Begum and Fayzee Rahamin, including letters by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Shibli Nomani (the two-volume Makateeb-i-Shibli brought out by Darul Musanifeen contains no letter by Attiya), Jigar Muradabadi, Sarojni Naidu, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar and George Bernard Shaw.
In addition, coins from various countries, medals, specimens of calligraphy, handwritten copies of the Quran from Turkmenistan and Egypt, gold jewellery, pearls and gems and royal attire will also be put on display in the exhibition hall.
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