Work on redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue begins
NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday conducted the “Bhoomi Poojan” (prayer) to lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment and restructuring of the Central Vista Avenue, the next phase of the Central Vista redevelopment plan.
The ceremony was performed by union housing and urban development minister Hardeep Puri in the presence of housing ministry secretary Durga Shanker Mishra,the head of the Central Public Works Dept, and senior officers of the ministry at India Gate, New Delhi.
“With this ceremony, the work has started for the development/ Redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue. The Central Vista Avenue, from North and South Block to India Gate, that includes Rajpath, its adjoining lawns and canals, rows of trees, Vijay Chowk and the India Gate plaza is a 3 km long stretch. This was originally designed to be a grand processional pathway to the Viceroy’s House during the British Raj,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The redevelopment of the avenue will involve creating underpasses and landscaping the green areas.
This first part of the redevelopment will cost an estimated ₹502 crore; the Centre wants green cover on the avenue be increased from 350,000 sqm to about 390,000 sqm.
The project will also involve the construction of public amenities, toilets, drinking water facilities, and vending areas at 10 locations for visitors and tourists. The underpasses will be at the Janpath
FIRST PART OF THE REDEVELOPMENT WILL COST ₹502 CR, GREEN COVER TO BE INCREASED TO 390,000
SQUARE METRES
and C-hexagon crossings with Rajpath. The plan also includes walkways along Rajpath, even canals.
This will be the second phase of the Central Vista project after Tata Projects Limited was tasked with the construction of the new Parliament complex on September 29, 2020. The construction of the new Parliament complex began last month and is scheduled to be completed by next year.
HT on January 6 reported that the Shapoorji Pallonji Group emerged the lowest bidder for the Centre’s tender for the redevelopment and restructuring of Central Vista Avenue after it quoted ₹477 crore, nearly 5% lower than the estimated cost of the project pegged at ₹502 crore.
The Central Public Works Department, the nodal agency for the redevelopment project, revised the estimated cost for the project from ₹463 crore to ₹502 crore in a modified tender document released in November. Of this, ₹372.9 crore is earmarked for civil work and horticulture, ₹113.7 crore for electrical and mechanical work and ₹15.51 crore for operation and maintenance for a period of five years.
The ministry said that the plan also includes parking spaces and foldable seating arrangement “to reduce time taken for installation and removal of temporary seating arrangement during Republic
Day Celebrations.”
“Requisite permissions from Delhi Urban Arts Commission, Heritage Conservation Committee, Central Vista Committee, Local Body etc. have been obtained,”’ the ministry said in the statement.
“Some modifications were carried out in Central Vista Avenue after independence; the landscape was altered, new rows of trees were added in the 1980’s, a new road, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Marg was constructed to improve north-south connectivity. Annual Republic Day Celebrations (RDC) are held on this avenue every year. It is the most frequently visited place and important tourist attraction in Delhi. However, it lacks public amenities like toilets, pathways, designated vending zones, parking, proper lighting, signages etc. Its lawns and water canals are in depleted condition as they were not planned for heavy public use...,” it added.
The objective of the redevelopment, the ministry said is “to make the avenue an icon that truly befits New India. This will come out to be one of the best Central Vista Avenue of the world.”
According to the tender, the work should be completed within 300 days.
The overall Central Vista plan will also involve razing the buildings on either side of the avenue that house ministry offices to build the Central Secretariat, a set of 11 buildings that will house all the 51 central government ministries, although that isn’t part of this phase of the project.
The Centre in December opened the technical bids for the tender for that development, narrowing on five firms, HT reported on December 14.