North MCD to rent out civic centre hall

After the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) leased out of C block civic centre (except the hall) to the IncomeTax department for a period of 30 years at an annual rent of ₹88 crores, the civic body has decided to lease out the Kedar Nath Sawhney hall at the centre soon.

Before this, in 2008, the unified MCD had leased out B, D and E-2 blocks of the civic centre to the I-T department at a cost of approximately ₹1,800 crore .

Though the department is yet to finalise the fee structure and receive approval from the house, it is assuming to earn around ₹2 crore annually from the state of art facility with a sitting capacity for 1,000 persons.

According to officials, the rent collected after leasing of space will help in speeding up certain development projects that have been stuck for years.

The 28-storeyed MCD Civic Centre is tallest building in city and houses the headquarters of south and north MCD.

“We are running in losses and thus there is no choice but to rent the place. Despite being the biggest auditorium in central Delhi, the place remains unutilised for most of the days. The place is occupied for just 50 days in a year,” said Renu Jagdev, additional commissioner, NDMC.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from the ambitious East Kidwai Nagar re-development plan, the NDMC has planned to commercially exploit its under-utilised property at Bunglow Road, Kamla Nagar, on a pilot basis.

The place will be handed over to the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) Ltd, a public sector undertaking with government of India, for redevelopment.

Although the NDMC came out with proposal for re-development of its six properties at Azadpur, Kamla Nagar, Bunglow Road, Minto Road, Dhaka and Model Town through NBCC in 2015-16, it was rejected in house due to various discrepancies. VIBHA SHARMA