Architect Hafeez Contractor (left) with Bihar State Housing Board officials in Patna on Thursday. The world-famous architect would soon renovate buildings in the city. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Jan. 19: The dilapidated buildings in Bahadurpur Housing Board Colony are all set for a renovation by none other than world-famous architect Hafeez Contractor.

The genius behind iconic architectural landmarks, including the Imperial Towers in Dubai and Mumbai, the Infosys Technologies IT parks across India, the DLF City Center and Mall in Gurgaon and the Hiranandani Estate, Thane (Mumbai) among others, has officially joined a number of upcoming projects in the state.

The Mumbai-based architect has associated himself with several residential as well as commercial infrastructure development projects in the state capital. Pleased with the overwhelming response from Bihar State Housing Board (BSHB) as well as private parties, Contractor is pla-nning to open an office of his firm — Architect Hafeez Contractor — in the state capital.

On a visit to Patna today to sign the agreements with BSHB for developing the satellite townships at Gaya and ho-using re-development projects in Patna, Contractor seemed impressed with the ongoing development work in the state, particularly the capital.

Some of Hafeez Contractor’s projects:

Imperial Towers, Mumbai

Hiranandani Gardens, Mumbai

Russi Modi Centre for Excellence, Jamshedpur

“Patna has a lot of potential with regard to infrastructure development, especially with the positive leadership in the state, it has got a long way to go. The motive of my visit today was to sign the agreement with BSHB regarding the development of low-income and high-income group houses in Gaya, and the re-development of existing houses in Bahadurpur area of Patna. The meeting with the housing board officials was successful and I appreciate the co-operation I received from them,” said Contractor.

Officials of BSHB informed that Contractor is one of the empanelled architects of BSHB. “He has been selected for the re-development of the housing board’s flats at sectors 9 and 10 in Bahadurpur. He would prepare the detailed design for upgrading the existing flats, which are in a dilapidated state at present,” said a senior official of BSHB. After meeting the officials of BSHB, Contractor went for a site visit to Bahadurpur.

“Hafeez Contractor has also been selected as the consultant architect for the Gaya township development project (Katari and Mustafabad). The project is spread over an area of 100 acres. It includes low-income and high-income group houses with a built-up area ranging from 800 to 1500sqft, two seven-star hotels, malls, shopping complexes, schools and hospitals. The proposal for this township has already been sent to the state cabinet. Contractor is expected to prepare the map of the entire project within a month,” the official added.

Public sector projects apart, Contractor has also accepted several private sector projects. “I also came to visit the sites of two private real estate development projects in Patna. One is a residential society having over 200 flats (spread over 3 lakh sqft) and another is a residential-cum-commercial project, including hotels (spread over 3.5 lakh sqft). Both these project sites are in western Patna (near Saguna Mor),” said Contractor.

He added: “I am considering to even open a branch of my firm in Patna.”