Iconic KMC Building to Celebrate 75th and Fix Clock

Posted on December 2, 2006
Filed Under >Unaiza Nasim, Architecture, Culture & Heritage, History
8 Comments
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Guest Post by Unaiza Nasim

The Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) Building is one of the many old buildings located at MA Jinnah road and has evolved an iconic status as one of the landmark structures of Karachi.

Next year (2007) marks the 75th Anniversary of the inauguration of the building and the city plans to celebrate the occasion in style. That is good news.

The foundation stone for the KMC Building was laid in 1895, construction was completed in 1930, followed by the inauguration in 1932.To mark the building’s platinum jubilee, programs would be organized in all towns of Karachi on the topic of “Our Karachiâ€Â?.

These programs would be organized from January 7 to 20. Moreover, a central three-day celebration would be held on the premises of the old KMC building. According to Daily Times:

Various competitions would be held among students of government schools from November 13 to December 13, while debate competitions would be organized for students of private schools from November 20 to 25. Moreover, a quiz competition will be held from November 27 to December 2, and a poetry competition will be organized from December 4 to 9. A poster-painting competition will also be held from December 11 to 16. Successful candidates would be given a chance to participate in the finals during the “Our Karachi� celebrations from January 8 to 11. School bands from all towns would perform on major roads. Additionally, a walk has been organized from January 8 to 11. More than 3,000 students are expected to participate.

For last few years, the buildings clock is also out of order. The City District Government, Karachi (CDGK) plans to get it fix the main clock before the platinum jubilee.

The clock mechanism comprises a three-story building and heavy machinery to keep it running. Two engineers from Hyderabad have been enlisted who are said to have expertise in fixing clocks from the days of British. Hopefully by the time the celebrations start the clock will be ticking off too.

Unaiza Nasim, based in Karachi, and also blogs at Metroblog Karachi. (Main Photo Credit: ZAK at Flickr.Com)

8 responses to “Iconic KMC Building to Celebrate 75th and Fix Clock”

  1. Rafay Kashmiri says:

    Unaiza Nasim,
    @good info on “oldest” young lady Karachi.

    Being a born Karachiit, spent 24 wonderful years
    with the splendid “Lady Karachi”, during my childhood
    we knew a very very old community living in Karachi,
    basically came from rural Sindh, they are called
    “Silla-watta” qaum, their professional building talent
    was applied and used in constructing typical “red brick”
    stone buildings in Karachi, namely KMC, Sindh Highcourt,
    Sindh Assembly, KPT, Lakhsmi etc etc.

  2. Owais Mughal says:

    The cupola topped towers and arched windows of KMC building are probably the most important Anglo-Mughal architecture edifice available in Karachi.

    After researching a bit more I found out why it took more than 37 years to complete KMC building project. The foundation stone was laid in 1895 at a place other than the current building site. Work on the current site started in 1915 and foundations were laid but then due to paucity of funds work could not commence until 1927. Finally the building was completed in Decemeber 1931.

    The building was completed at a cost of Rs 1,775,000 and the consercation took place on January 7, 1932 with the prayer:

    “May all be blessed in this city”

  3. Eidee Man says:

    Hi, this is not about this particular post so I apologize. But I’d like to turn everyone’s attention to Cowasjee’s latest column:

    http://dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm

    He wrote:

    “Since 1979, there have of course been other Muslims â€

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