Latest news with #Facility
The Hindu
a day ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Bridge and Roof Company bags contract to develop multi modal facility complex at Broadway
Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited has bagged the contract for developing the massive Multi Modal Facility Complex and Kuralagam Building at Broadway. Chennai Metro Asset Management Limited (CMAML), a joint venture of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), signed a contract for this project with the company on Wednesday. The firm has received the project at a cost of ₹566.59 crore. On behalf of Greater Chennai Corporation, CMAML is implementing this project. The project aims to create an integrated development for commuters wherein they will have access to a modern bus terminal and commercial spaces, according to a press release. The bus terminal which will be built with basements, ground and first floors will be ready in two years. The Multi Modal Facility Complex and the Kuralagam building will need more time and is likely to be ready in 30 months. While the entire project space sprawls over an area of 6.484 acres, the Multi-Modal Facility's area is 1,08,290 sq.m. which comprises two basements, a ground floor and eight upper floors. There will be 73 bus bays in total, with 36 on the ground floor, 23 on the first floor of Multi Modal Facility Complex and 14 at Kuralagam. The Kuralagam building which is to be redeveloped will come up over 22,794 sq.m. with two basement levels, ground floor and nine upper floors. This apart, Multi Modal Facility Complex will also house office spaces from the second to the eighth floor. Meanwhile, the Kuralagam building will accommodate retail spaces on its ground, first, and second floors, and there will be office spaces from the third to the ninth floor, the release said. An air-conditioned concourse facility will link these buildings for commuters. The complex is strategically located to facilitate easy access from various parts of the city. It will include foot overbridges and subway facilities for seamless integration with the High Court Metro station, the release said. An extensive parking area has also been planned which can take in 433 cars and 1,174 two-wheelers in Multi Modal Facility Complex and Kuralagam.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Drain cleaning, beautification drive in focus as UP minister reviews projects
1 2 Varanasi: Urban Development Minister AK Sharma on Tuesday chaired a review meeting of the department here, with focus on drain cleaning, water management, anti-encroachment measures, and beautification projects across the city. Municipal commissioner Akshat Verma presented a detailed overview of the ongoing civic works under the Varanasi Municipal Corporation (VMC). Verma highlighted the phased cleaning of sewer lines and stormwater drains using advanced equipment, including super sucker and bucket machines, being carried out by the Water Works department. To tackle waterlogging ahead of the monsoon, the commissioner informed that 80 vulnerable locations have been identified, with adequate pump arrangements already in place. He also briefed the minister about the city's water supply system, which is currently supported by two water treatment plants (WTPs), along with the installation of 41 new tube wells and 152 hand pumps. Verma said that a zone-wise identification of encroachments has been completed and notices are being served to violators, mandating removal within two days. A dedicated anti-encroachment campaign will commence from May 30, with fines to be imposed on defaulters. The commissioner also updated the minister on various development initiatives underway, including the construction of a Senior Care Center and a City Facility Center, progress on municipal bond initiatives, beautification of city ponds, the CM Grid project, digitisation of birth and death records, and the rollout of the Smart Kashi mobile application. Issuing directives, Minister Sharma instructed that 100 percent cleaning of all drains and sewers — both large and small — must be completed within the next 15 days. He emphasized timely removal of silt and the enforcement of anti-encroachment measures without delay. Sharma also suggested landscaping road shoulders with grass or creating pedestrian pathways, and stressed the goal of making Varanasi dust-free. He called for better organisation of street vendors and intensified public awareness to prevent littering. Highlighting the cultural significance of the city, the minister directed that memorials be constructed near the residences of notable personalities and Padma awardees as part of a broader beautification initiative.
Chicago Tribune
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: In ‘Endgame' at Facility Theatre, reality and dystopia wash together
If Ebenezer Scrooge found himself isolated in a post-apocalyptic setting, with no one but his elderly parents and his long-suffering servant to haunt his monotonous days, he would probably behave like Hamm, the petty tyrant of a sad little domain in Samuel Beckett's 1957 play, 'Endgame.' In Facility Theatre's new revival of the Irish playwright's absurdist tragicomedy, the blind and paralyzed character (played by artistic director Kirk Anderson) looks like a slightly steampunk Scrooge, wearing a silk dressing gown, old-fashioned nightcap and round black sunglasses as he holds court from a shabby upholstered armchair. But this is Beckett, not Dickens, so don't look for a redemptive character arc or cathartic ending. Like his better-known 1953 play, 'Waiting for Godot,' 'Endgame' doesn't have much of a plot but rather centers on sparse, often nonsensical dialogue with a dash of physical comedy. Amid the rambling non-sequiturs and repetitive exchanges, Beckett drops hard-hitting reflections on the bleakness of a life lived with no authentic human connections. Facility's production is directed by Yasen Peyankov, a Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member and head of the theater department at University of Illinois Chicago. Along with Anderson, the cast includes York Griffith as the servant, Clov, and H.B. Ward and Shawna Franks as Hamm's parents, Nagg and Nell, who occasionally poke their heads out of the garbage bins where their miserly son keeps them imprisoned. Under Peyankov's direction, this ensemble effectively conveys the ennui and despair of Beckett's characters while also capturing the script's dark humor. In my experience, watching a Beckett play is best approached like gazing at a surrealist painting. If you let the words and imagery — and the emotions they conjure — wash over you without trying to make logical sense of the action, cogent thematic threads will emerge from the bizarre actions of these strange characters. In Facility's 'Endgame,' the first production of this play that I've seen live, I was particularly struck by Beckett's exploration of toxic familial relationships and the sense of malaise that permeates this dystopian world. Hamm comes off as self-pitying and demanding from the start, and his capacity for cruelty only becomes clearer when we learn how Clov came to be part of his household as a young child. There's also the matter of Hamm's parents, confined to living in their own filth with only dry biscuits for sustenance, though Nagg's reminiscences reveal that he and Nell were not exactly kind parents when Hamm was a child. While this family history doesn't justify what can only be described as elder abuse, it does hint at a vicious cycle that didn't begin with Hamm. Clov, who doesn't remember his own father, completes this odd family. Griffith plays this role with a shuffling gait, drooping shoulders and vacant gaze, which form a striking contrast to his occasional bursts of rage. Although the servant admits that Hamm has been like a father to him, their relationship is also highly dysfunctional. The question of whether Clov will leave Hamm recurs throughout the play, epitomized in this asynchronous exchange: Beckett never specifies what disaster has trapped these characters in a house by the sea, but it seems to have resulted in novel weather patterns, a lack of supplies and no expectation of encountering other survivors. Here, the end of the world seems both baffling and boring. 'Why this farce, day after day?,' both Nell and Clov wonder at different points in the play. This question feels all too relatable today, when news headlines seem indistinguishable from satire. One aspect of the play hasn't aged so well, though: Beckett's treatment of disability. Hamm's blindness and paralysis serve as metaphors for his character traits, and both are occasionally played for comedic effect, albeit a pathetic sort of comedy. Given the evolving conversations about onstage representation of disabilities, I suspect that modern audiences would (rightly) be less forgiving if a contemporary playwright used these devices. Before this review reaches its endgame, I have to add some praise for the production designers. Doing double duty as both actor and set designer, Anderson uses an off-white fabric with a papier-mâché texture to create a grimy backdrop. Lighting designer Richard Norwood's overhead fluorescents shine a harsh glare on Bisa's Victorian-esque costumes, with jarring buzzes from sound designer Rick Sims punctuating the sudden lighting changes. The combined effect lies somewhere between the gloomy, rotting mansion of Miss Havisham (another notorious Dickens misanthrope) and the sterile corporate cruelty of the Apple TV+ series 'Severance.' Facility's revival of 'Endgame' is a rare chance to see this classic work by a playwright who prefigured dramatists such as Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter. (More significant parallels aside, the characters popping out of barrels in 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' surely owe something to Nagg and Nell.) In Facility's home base, located just across the street from the green expanse of Humboldt Park, Peyankov and team have skillfully harnessed the resources of a storefront theater to make Beckett's 'corpsed' world feel utterly 'Endgame' (3.5 stars) When: Through June 29 Where: Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California Ave. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes Tickets: $30 suggested donation (pay-what-you-can options available) at
TimesLIVE
21-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Government doubles down on private sector participation
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana stressed that while economic development spending of R289.8bn has remained in his budget since the February tabling, the private sector had a vital role to play in catalytic investment. Godongwana tabled a budget on Wednesday for a historic third time in a calendar year. This was due to the last-minute postponement of the first budget in February due to a proposal for a two percentage point rise in VAT and a legal challenge to the budget tabled in March. Tabling the budget at a joint sitting of parliament in Cape Town , Godongwana said regulations for public-private partnerships (PPP) gazetted last year were on track to take effect next month. 'These will reduce the procedural complexity of undertaking PPPs, increasing the deal flow and allowing government to leverage its limited resources to fast-track infrastructure provision. The National Treasury has developed enabling guidelines and frameworks to support the new regulations. 'The minister said the unsolicited proposals framework would create clear rules for managing proposals from the private sector. Today, R52.9bn in additional funding has been unlocked through the budget Facility for Infrastructure. 'The framework for fiscal commitments and contingent liabilities will strengthen fiscal risk governance. These guidelines and frameworks will be published in the next few weeks.' He said the private sector participation unit of the department of transport and Transnet was making progress in engaging the market on private sector participation (PSP) projects. 'The PSPs will resolve and improve some of the critical logistic bottlenecks in the rail and port networks. In March, a request for information was issued for the ore, chrome, and manganese lines. In April, a request for qualification was issued for the establishment of an independent rolling stock leasing company.' Briefing journalists before the tabling of the budget, deputy finance minister David Masondo said 97 operators have applied to get involved in rail infrastructure operations. The department of transport has released a request for information in port infrastructure and later this year this should move to requests for proposals through the public-private partnership unit in the department, he added.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aaron Rodgers Biographer Expects Him to Sign with Steelers Very Soon
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been waiting on Aaron Rodgers for over two months, and it appears the end of the never-ending saga is finally in sight. Rodgers biographer Ian O'Connor believes the four-time league MVP will sign with the Steelers by the end of May. 'Talking to a couple of people close to Aaron, I have a sense of what it might be,' O'Connor said on 93.7 the Fan. 'I'm not comfortable reporting it right now, but I don't think it would prevent him from playing football with the Steelers… I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he's told (the Steelers), 'Listen I'm gonna play for you. I just don't want to go there and then miss part of mandatory minicamp because of my personal issues. I'm pretty sure they're gonna be solved by the end of May, at least in my satisfaction where I can give you my all.' I think that's where he is.' Advertisement After a tumultuous two-year tenure with the New York Jets, O'Connor believes Pittsburgh is the 'perfect place' for Rodgers to end his career. 'He knows it was an embarrassment in New York largely, and he's the face of that embarrassment,' O'Connor said. 'Whether that's fair or not, that's the case. It may be me as an optimist, but I think this is gonna work out. Do I think the Steelers will win the Super Bowl next year? No. But if you told me 11-6 with at least one playoff victory . . . I think that's realistic.' New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 20, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones thinks his former teammate Aaron Rodgers should have extra motivation to sign with the Steelers, especially with the New York Jets being the Steelers' Week 1 opponent. Advertisement The potential revenge game against the Green Bay Packers is nothing compared to Rodgers' fallout with the Jets. Like Cam Heyward, Jones believes the Jets did Rodgers dirty. 'He should be juiced up with this schedule.' Jones said on FS1's Facility. 'I'm not even talking about the Packers. The Packers, y'all split ways, that's all good. We'll see you again. They'll probably celebrate him and all that stuff. But this Jets stuff, the way they disrespected him leaving down there.' In a recent appearance on NBC Sports, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said he expects Aaron Rodgers to eventually sign with the Steelers. LaFleur, who coached Rodgers from 2019-2022, just can't see Rodgers calling it a career. 'I'm anticipating that happening, so I won't be surprised,' LaFleur said. 'I just can't see him not playing the game of football this year, and (signing with the Steelers) obviously makes the most sense. I just know in our discussions over the years, he's a guy that he's had as much respect for as anybody, a guy like Mike Tomlin. I could certainly see that coming to fruition here pretty shortly.' This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Aaron Rodgers Biographer Expects Him to Sign with Steelers Very Soon
