New Parliament by October, Central Vista Avenue by mid-June: Union minister

Jun 03,2022

New Parliament by October, Central Vista Avenue by mid-June: Union minister 

Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that construction of the new Parliament building and the Central Vista Avenue will be completed by October and mid-June.
Addressing a press conference to highlight the achievement of the Modi government as it completes eight years, Puri said, “We wanted to hold the January 26 parade on Central Vista Avenue and succeeded. Due to the severity of winter, other problems and Covid restrictions, there has been some delay… It will be completed in 10 days or so. Our main focus now is on the Parliament building which will be completed before the winter session.”

The construction work of Central Vista Avenue was to be completed before the Republic Day parade.

While work on the three Common Central Secretariat buildings and the Vice President’s house is going on, a senior ministry official said, “The next project to be taken up is the construction of MP chambers, which will come up where Transport Bhawan is located.”

The offices in Transport Bhawan will be shifted to two buildings that are being constructed at KG Marg.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) recently reinvited bids for the construction and maintenance of the Executive Enclave, which will include the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), India House, Cabinet Secretariat, and National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). Bids for ₹1,160-crore Executive Enclave were first invited in November last year and were opened in March. Ahluwalia Contracts India Limited emerged as the lowest bidders for the project.

As per the tender document, the project cost has increased from ₹1,160 crore to ₹1,316 crore. A senior official said, “The project cost has gone up as the scope of work has been increased.”

The redevelopment of the ₹608-crore Central Vista Avenue, part of the Centre’s ₹13,500 crore Central Vista redevelopment project, started in February last year. Under the project, Rajpath and the area along it between Vijay Chowk to India Gate is being redeveloped. The project’s initial deadline was December 2021.

The work involves construction of four pedestrian underpasses, eight amenity blocks, relaying of Rajpath and construction of pathways along it and in the lawns, improving the canals and constructing 16 permanent bridges over them, and the construction of underground utility ducts for electric and other cables etc.

CPWD officials said that they faced many challenges in completing the work. “The pace of work was affected due to the second and third waves of Covid. Work had to be stopped due to unprecedented rain last year. For the Republic Day parade, special arrangements were made and then we restarted the work. It took some time to mobilise resources,” said a CPWD official.