MAX HOSPITAL REOPENS

NEW DELHI: The ongoing facelift to Delhi’s landmark Pragati Maidan Complex will give way to an International Exhibition-cum-convention Centre, which will be operational from September 2019.

The stone laying ceremony for the upcoming Centre and Integrated Transit Corridor Development Project will take place on Friday, which will be presided over by Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu and attended by Union ministers Suresh Prabhu and Hardeep Singh Puri, among other government officials.

Elaborating on the project, Chairman and Managing Director of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) LC Goyal told Millennium Post, “We will have covered exhibition space of 1,22,000 square metres, once the complex is built. There will be an open exhibition space close to 15 acre, containing four amphitheatres. The total build up area will be 3,82,284 sq m.”

“The new Centre will accommodate 7,500 people, and will be five time larger than Vigyan Bhawan. Another 27 meeting halls will be built to host many activities at one time.

“The landmark project will add immensely to the grandeur and stature of Delhi and is in sync with India’s aspiration to be a global power,” Goyal added.

The ITPO chief further said that an upcoming “majestic ‘Ashok Stambh’, built from Dhaulpur stone, will form the focal point of the rich landscape around the project.”

The upcoming centre will also house a rooftop helipad with elevator access, to provide a fast and secure route highprofile visitors.

A 24-storey hotel with 500 keys – to be operated by a private party – will also come up at the centre, in addition to integrated food courts, seven modern exhibition halls covered canopies, basement parking with capacity of 4,800 vehicles and skywalk connectivity with the Pragati Maidan metro station.

“An elaborate traffic solution has been designed to ensure that all road crossings are made signal free and their capacities augmented, and to connect the Pragat Maidan project seamlessly with the surrounding road network,” Goyal further said.

Authorities have also planned a tunnel under Pragati Maidan, which will connect Purana Quila Road to Ring Road, and giving access to Mathura Road.

“The tunnel will provide the much-needed alternative to Bhairon Road, providing direct access between the traffic from India Gate as well as ITO to Ring Road,” he said.