Ranchi: Come 2018, Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) will gift children in the capital a new-look Birsa Munda Smriti Park on old jail premises.

Rusty, chipped and damaged playing infrastructure of the 5-acre park on the 34-acre historic jail premises will be repaired or replaced.

Ranchi deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya said the overhaul project was small in terms of monetary value but meant a lot as it would delight the children who come to the park.

"Project cost is around Rs 1.80 lakh only but for RMC it is a priority as it concerns children. This is one of the biggest parks in the heart of the city that thousands of children visit. We have started the process of tenders and the actual work is likely to start in the first week of January and finish in 45 days," Vijayvargiya said.

It means that by mid-February, existing equipment such as merry go-round chairs, merry go-round ducks and horses, see-saw, elephant slider, single slider, hammock and the likes will be repaired or replaced or given a new coat of paint, depending on need. Ten new chairs will also be fixed.

An RMC source said that the municipal body had stopped maintaining the children's park earlier this year after it had been handed over to Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company Limited (JUIDCL) to develop a state-of-art park with multiple facilities.

"So, this small upgrade is in that sense a stopgap by the RMC, as children from Line Tank Road, Upper Bazaar, Hindpiri, Kokar, Lalpur, among others, who come to play are complaining that the rides and swings are in bad shape," he said.

The larger project to revamp the overall old jail premises, which has immense historical significance for Jharkhand as icon Birsa Munda died here, will be done by JUIDCL's outsourced agency, Calcutta-based Triveni Construction, by April 2019.

In March this year, the JUIDCL had floated a tender worth Rs 56 crore, which Triveni Construction had bagged. This project is set to be completed by the end of April 2019 for which construction work has started.

Under this bigger scheme, the old jail will be renovated keeping its architectural design intact.

A new park with toy train, 32 tribal cottages displaying art, life and culture, a pavilion where indigenous artefacts will be sold, a nursery for plants, a 250-seater amphitheatre, basement parking and food court have been proposed under the plan.

A dedicated zone named Jharkhand Darshan with a laser lights show is also planned.