The British Parliament will reconsider plans to repair the tower of big Ben
Prime Minister Theresa may stated that “it is wrong to force big Ben to be silent for four years”.
Moscow. August 16. INTERFAX.RU — the British Parliament has declared its intention to revise the plan for the reconstruction of the tower of Elizabeth, according to which the world-famous clock big Ben will be silenced for four years. About it informs on Wednesday Agency Associated Press.
According to him, the decision to review the redevelopment plan was adopted after many politicians have criticized such a long break. In particular, the Prime-Minister Theresa may stated that “it is wrong to force big Ben to be silent for four years”.
About the plans for the renovation were announced in 2016, but then it was reported that the clock will be stopped for a few months. This week the statement of the house of Commons said that the pause will last four years until 2021. This decision is connected with the desire to ensure the safety of workers who will repair the Elizabeth tower.
It is assumed that the repair turret will be separate from repair of the whole building of the Parliament. While the UK authorities are not agreed on the project, the cost of which could reach 5.7 billion pounds. High cost due to the need of almost complete replacement of all engineering systems that have not been updated since 1950-ies.
According to tradition, the big Ben rings every 15 minutes for the past 157 years. The last time this tradition was broken in 2013 during the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.