Ever-bustling and dilapidated, City Centre Sector 17 is all set to don a new look. From opening of food courts, amphitheatres to the earmarking of street vending zones, the City Centre Sector 17 here will get a new lease of life.
The UT Department of Urban Planning has already initiated the work to give a major facelift to the City Centre Sector 17 as proposed by the UT Master Plan Committee.
Besides the opening of food courts and other facilities, a proposal has been mooted to weed out the Government offices especially in northern part of the Sector and relocation of buildings which are not compatible with the functioning of the City Centre.
The UT Master Plan Committee has proposed that the buildings which are not compatible with the function of the City Centre can be relocated elsewhere so as to enable the entire Sector to be a vibrant whole rather than just a portion of it. The same would be done after a detailed analysis.
The construction of new multi-level underground parkings, opening of amphitheatres, earmarked street vending zones in Sector 17 has also been recommended.
Dotted with fountains, sculptures and groves of trees; the City Centre Sector 17 is mainly dedicated to the shopping buffs and offers a huge selection of clothes, shoes, electronics, sports goods, books among others. As per the UT plans, the Government buildings within the City Centre will be preserved and maintained on the basis of the detailed report of the heritage Sub Committee IV.
Also, there are plans to spruce up the City Centre Sector 17 beyond the area of Plaza which is already a major tourist attraction. The other two fountains including one situated opposite TS Central State library and one behind the 30 Bays building would be revivify to add more charm to the place.
“Designed as the vibrant Heart of the city and as a pedestrian paradise, the City Centre is today experiencing problems such as violations of building finishes like paint, composite panels, degeneration of cement concrete, uncontrolled skyline by adding rooms/services on rooftops, encroachments of backyard specially on V4 SCOs (shop-cum-office), over-spilling of advertisements, parking woes which are detrimental to the overall ambience of the Centre,” stated UT Master Plan Committee.
The Committee further stated, “The City Centre is not functioning as intended as per the original plan. The focus was supposed to be the square opposite the town hall and the State library building which has instead shifted to the Neelam Plaza where there is concentration of commercial activity. The main square which is surrounded by Government offices and Government buildings gets deserted after office hours and needs to be revitalised. Similarly, the southern end of the sector also needs to the activated.”
“The problems prevailing in the City Centre need to be addressed by taking the stakeholders, shopkeepers etc on board for which preliminary spadework has already been initiated,” recommended the draft Master Plan.
UT Chief Architect Sumit Kaur while talking to The Pioneer said, “A major facelift for City Centre Sector 17 has been proposed.”
She said, “landscaping and plantation in several areas has been planned. At present, there are several government offices of Haryana, UT Chandigarh and Punjab in Sector 17 and the area remains dark and dead after the office hours end everyday. Consequently, a proposal has been mooted to enliven this area and also upgrade the existing structures to make it a main tourist attraction.”
It is proposed to utilise the ground floor of the government offices for commercial purposes. A survey regarding the same was done by the UT Estate office. And, the UT Estate office had submitted its report to the UT Administration about the number of offices that are functioning on the ground floor of the buildings and about vacant ground floors in various Government offices.
The Administration is now looking at a possibility to use the ground floors of Government offices for commercial activities to make the entire Sector 17 livelier in the evening. It has been proposed to open cafés, restaurants, shops etc in the ground floors wherever possible.