Gujarat re-invites tender to begin work on Museum of Royal Kingdoms near Statue of Unity

The work on the museum, which was announced in 2022, is yet to begin on the land allotted in Limdi village, 800 metres across from the SoU complex.

PM Modi, during his visit to Ekta Nagar (formerly Kevadia) in Narmada district, inaugurated development projects worth Rs 284 crore on October 31.

Mumbai-based architects Ratan J Batliboi has been brought on board to curate the museum.

The Museum department is also in the process of creating two other museums, Gujarat Vandana celebrating the history of the state, and the Veer Balak Udyan, which will be a memorial to children exhibiting valour from the “puranic literature, medieval and independence era”, around the SoU.

“We had floated the tender back in August-September, considering that we should be able to have the PM perform the ground breaking ceremony by October 31. But once the groundbreaking is performed, the construction must begin immediately and we were not able to zero in on an agency as the bidders were not competitive… There are many criteria that need to be met. Apart from the qualification parameters, even after the final price is given, there are discussions over why it is above the estimated price and so on,” Sharma said.
Sharma said that the curation team is currently working on the planning of the museum, which includes design and execution of the details.

“The research teams are closely meeting royal families to gather data and other necessary information after which each part of the museum will be designed. It will take about four-five months for the curation to be complete. The agencies are working together to provide services for architecture, curation, design and technical aspects,” he added.

After India’s Independence, Sardar Patel is said to have played a crucial role solving the biggest challenge of bringing 562 of the princely states into the Indian union. Two-fifths of the geographical territory which were princely states had the option of acceding with either India or Pakistan.

Tribal museum

The Tribal Development Department of the state has also initiated a tender process to hire an agency for the curation of the museum coming up in Garudeshwar, sprawling in an area of 10 acres.

The tribal museum will be a three-storey building with 1.5 lakh square feet of gallery area that will showcase 18 major tribal movements of the freedom struggle as well as 100 other smaller tribal movements across the country.

A senior official of the Tribal Development Department told The Indian Express that despite the delays in the construction, a deadline for April 2025 has now been fixed to complete the structure.

The official said there has been hiccups in the construction of the museum but the construction is ongoing and slated to be completed by April 2025. “We are in the process of tendering to bring an agency on board to have an exhibit designer, an engineering component and for the overall architecture. A consortium between three agencies, who have to come together, is needed. The final date for the tender is November 30. We expect that once the agency is finalised, it will take about 12 to 16 months for the curation process.”

The official added that while the agency is being finalised, the department has sent out research teams all across the country to complete the field work on all the movements that are meant to be showcased at the museum. “The 10 acres of the museum campus will also have artisan workshops, a mall for tribals, tribal cuisine centre, and amphitheatre. We are expecting that the museum will be ready by May 2026,” he added.