Central Vista Avenue will open for public this month, says Puri

Jul 08,2022

According to a senior Union ministry official, the redeveloped Avenue, which is the first part of the ₹13,500 crore Central Vista revamp project, will be formally inaugurated, but no date has been decided for this as yet.

Construction work on the Central Vista Avenue will be complete by July 18, Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday, as senior officials in the ministry said the stretch is likely to be thrown open to the public later this month, though they are yet to put a date on this.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the SVANidhi Mahotsav, Puri said, “Construction work of one of the the underpasses is remaining. We don’t want to push them...the work is in the final stage and will be completed by July 15-18.”

According to a senior Union ministry official, the redeveloped Avenue, which is the first part of the ₹13,500 crore Central Vista revamp project, will be formally inaugurated, but no date has been decided for this as yet.

Access to the 3km-stretch, from Vijay Chowk to India Gate, was shut when the ₹608-crore project began in February last year. The work involves construction of four pedestrian underpasses, eight amenity blocks, relaying work on Rajpath and building pathways along it and in the lawns, improving the canals and constructing 16 permanent bridges over them. This is apart from the construction of underground utility ducts for electricity and other cables.

Apart from the Avenue revamp, the Central Vista project includes the construction of a new Parliament building, the refurbishment of North and South Blocks, and the construction of new Central government offices, including a common Central Secretariat, and central conference facilities, among others.

Work on the three common Central Secretariat buildings and the Vice President’s house is going on, officials aware of the matter have said.

Officials also said the new Parliament House is likely to be completed in time for this year’s winter session.

According to senior officials at the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which is executing the project, work on the Janpath underpass is still going on.

“Cladding work at the pedestrian underpass at Janpath is still going on. We are trying to finish it by July 18. The parking lots and amenity blocks are ready,” said a senior CPWD official.

The Central Vista Avenue project was initially expected to be completed in December last year.

For the Republic Day parade this year, the CPWD made special arrangements, such as building temporary bridges over the canals in addition to the 16 permanent ones.

Construction work then resumed in February.

“For the parade, temporary structures were erected and heavy machines were used to complete the work, due to which the water sprinkling system was partially damaged. Repairing this took some time,” said a CPWD official.