Eight new government office buildings, a new Parliament House and a residential complex near the South Block that could house the homes of the Prime Minister and the Vice-President are among the projects under consideration for the Centre’s redevelopment of the Central Vista, a Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry source said.
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is likely to issue tenders for individual projects for the revamp of the 3-km-long Rajpath from Rashtrapati Bhavan till the India Gate, construction of a new Parliament building and a common Central Secretariat for Ministries by February, the source said.
Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri had in October 2019 announced the government’s ambitious plan and named the appointment of Gujarat-based architecture firm, HCP Design, as the consultant for the project.
New parliament house opposite old one
The new development would be below the height of the India Gate, the source said, adding that the office buildings were likely to be seven floors each and accommodate many more government staff than the existing bhavans, most of which are set to be demolished. While Shastri Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Nirman Bhavan and Vigyan Bhavan would be demolished, “a political call” would have to be taken for newer buildings like the External Affairs Ministry’s Jawahar Bhavan, the source said.
The new building, for which the process of land-use change of a 9.5-acre plot was started on December 21, 2019, would be triangular or “wave-shaped”, the source said. According to the December 21 notification, the Master Plan-2021 of Delhi would be amended to change the plot opposite the existing Parliament House from ‘recreational’ use to “Parliament House”.
