Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority warns of legal action against Maki

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) decided to take legal action against Japanese company Maki and Associates, which was dropped as master architect for the construction of capital city Amaravati, alleging that the company has been spreading “lies and misinformation”. APCRDA commissioner Cherukuri Sreedhar, in a release on Sunday, said that Maki was making baseless allegations against the state government and the APCRDA only to cover up its failure in presenting original designs to represent and reflect the rich culture of the Telugu people.

Highlights:

• Commissioner says the Japanese firm is carrying out misinformation campaign against the CRDA and the AP govt
• Takes strong exception to an article in a trade magazine by Maki, in which it compared AP with that of Bihar
• States designs submitted by the architect were unoriginal, and charges were also high

The Maki and Associates made a complaint to the Council of Architecture against the decision of the APCRDA to drop it as master architect of Amaravai and the council under the Union human resources department has reportedly sent a notice to the AP government a few months ago seeking its explanation over the complaint.

Besides, as per APCRDA, the Japanese global firm had published an article in Architectural Digest magazine on March 21, 2017, with “baseless charges” against the state government and the CRDA.The commissioner in his release said, “The APCRDA takes strong exception to the Maki’s utterances and ridiculous comparisons between the Government of AP and the Government of Bihar (in the article). Such comparisons are unwarranted and the revelations are in violation of the terms and conditions signed by Maki”.

Stating the APCRDA has reserved the rights of rejecting or accepting either full or part of the proposals submitted by the participants, Sreedhar said the designs submitted by Maki had failed to attract the people of the state when they were exhibited to the public.

“People pointed out that the designs were nothing but a copy to the Assembly complex of Chandigarh or appeared like the cooling towers of thermal power plants. It’s highly objectionable and difficult to digest that plagiarised designs were submitted by Maki for construction of Amaravati,” he said.Besides, he also said the financial offer quoted by Maki was higher and the government had decided to conduct negotiations with Maki expressing doubts on its capability.

“Left with utter dissatisfaction about the lack of deployment of sufficient manpower and reduction in the quoted price to a reasonable level, the APCRDA has no other option but to get rid of Maki from the project,” he said.Sreedhar said the Foster+ Partners and Consortium was selected as master architect for Amaravati government complex through bidding process. The financial proposal of Foster+ Partners was less by Rs 26 crore for the same scope for which Maki earlier had quoted Rs 87 crore while the Foster + Partners quoted Rs 60.72 crore, he said.

The commissioner said, “The APCRDA takes serious note of the acts of Maki in continuously spreading lies though various magazines and websites with an ulterior motive of tarnishing the image of the government and of the APCRDA and has decided to issue legal notice to Maki”.