Mangaluru: Twenty-four years after it was demolished, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has started the exercise of rebuilding the iconic Clock Tower at its original place in front of the Town Hall. The corporation authorities have awarded the tender to start the construction of the clock tower and the construction work will begin soon after issuing the work order, mayor Kavitha Sanil said on Monday.

The project will cost the MCC Rs 90 lakh which includes Rs 57 lakh worth civil works. The 75-feet high tower will be a square structure. While the base of the tower upto 30 feet will be of 14 feet in width and it will be reduced to 10 feet thereafter till the top for stability and enhanced looks. The structure will have four circular dials, one each on all four sides. The diameter of the dials will be six feet.

The MCC has invited rates from various watch manufacturers for the dials. It has reserved a budget of a total of Rs 15 lakh for these dials. While the tower will be built of laterite, the roof will be made of tiles.

The clock tower was the gift of M Vaman, proprietor of Vaman Nayak and Sons – manufacturers of mechanical clocks – to the city in 1968, who built it by raising funds from businessmen. The 45-feet high structure had a dial with a circumference of six feet and was made using casting process.

The clock of the iconic tower was made to function mechanically by means of pendulum and weights. The load, weighing around 10kg, was taken up using windings. The load thus pushed up used to take almost seven days to descend. On the sixth, the weights would then be taken up using pulleys to ensure the clock functioned with zero error.

The structure was maintained by the Vaman Nayak and Sons for 26 years until it was demolished for road widening in 1994.