National Capital and Parliament Redevelopment : News and Updates

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Feb 16, 2019
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New home for PM, a triangular Parliament — Modi govt readies Delhi power corridor makeover

Buildings such as Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Rail Bhawan along the Central Vista will be demolished, North and South Blocks will become museums.


By Moushumi Das Gupta, 30 December, 2019 9:21 pm IST
1578042139912.png

A view of Delhi's Central Vista | Twitter | @HardeepSPuri

New Delhi: The Prime Minister of India is set to get a new residence, while many government buildings, including Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Rail Bhawan and Vayu Bhawan, will be demolished, as the Modi government readies the blueprint for its ambitious project to redevelop New Delhi’s Central Vista.

The redevelopment will also include a triangular Parliament building next to the existing one, to be completed by 2022, in time for the 75th anniversary of Independence, sources familiar with the developments told ThePrint. The other projects are to be completed by 2024.

The new PM residence will move to the southern side of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Rajiv Gandhi had made 7, Race Course Road (now Lok Kalyan Marg) his home as PM in 1984, but it was only in May 1990 that the urban development ministry declared the premises as the permanent residence-cum-office of the Prime Minister of India.

New Parliament

The new Parliament building will be triangular in shape, and is to be located opposite the existing one in the same premises. The old Parliament House, an iconic structure designed by renowned British architect Herbert Baker in 1931, will not be touched.

The new building will have a Lok Sabha with a capacity to seat 900-1,000 people, a Rajya Sabha and a common lounge in place of the current Parliament’s Central Hall.

Other heritage buildings such as the North and South Block will also not be touched. Both will be converted into museums — one showcasing India before 1857, and the other after 1857.

The Vice-President’s residence is set to move next to Rashtrapati Bhavan from the existing location, Maulana Azad Road.

Vigyan Bhavan is to be demolished and will make way for a modern conference hall.

Other plans

The demolished buildings will give way to 10 new eight-storeyed government buildings along Rajpath, part of a common central secretariat will house approximately one lakh government employees. The current government buildings at the Central Vista house approximately 35,000 employees.

“The demolition will happen in a phased manner to avoid major disruption,” said a housing ministry official.

The outer facade of all the new buildings will remain more or less like the existing ones, in sync with the surrounding aesthetics. However, inside, the structures will be mostly steel and glass, and will be equipped with the latest gadgets and modern facilities. All the buildings will also have an atrium with trees planted in the middle.

All the eight blocks will be shorter in height than India Gate. The canal alongside Rajpath as well as the gardens will not be tinkered with.

“The idea is to move government offices that are located across the city to one place. This will not only save time in commuting from one office to another but also resources,” the official added.

The government currently shells out Rs 1,000 crore on rent every year.

All the new offices are to be connected by an underground metro rail. “There will be a shuttle service between all the offices. We are in talks with DMRC to work out the details,” said a second housing ministry official.

Also in the plans are a walkway and a cycling path connecting India Gate to the Yamuna. Shuttle buses will also be available on the route.

The housing ministry is also planning a National Biodiversity Arboretum on 75 acres of land behind Rashtrapati Bhavan, which will have collections of plants from different climatic zones of India.

“It will be a public space, open to all,” said the second official.

The ministry will now hold town hall meetings with different stakeholders before the project goes off the drawing board.

New home for PM, a triangular Parliament — Modi govt readies Delhi power corridor makeover
 
IGNCA could to be shifted out of Lutyen’s Delhi under Central Vista revamp plan

According to the proposed Central Vista plan, the IGNCA and nine other buildings, including Udyog Bhawan, will likely be demolished for the new common Central Secretariat.

By PTI
16 January, 2020 2:00 pm IST
IGNCA_New_Delhi-696x392.jpg

The IGNCA is currently located at Man Singh Road | Wikipedia commons

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is likely to be shifted from its current location as part of the Modi government’s ambitious project to redevelop Central Vista – the nation’s power corridor – in the Lutyens’ Delhi, sources said on Wednesday.

The IGNCA, established in the memory of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, may be shifted near Jamnagar House, where around 15 acre land currently being used by hutments are likely to be removed.

According to the proposed plan, the IGNCA building and other nine buildings including Udyog Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Shashtri Bhawan, vice president residence and are likely to be demolished to pave the way for the construction of a common Central Secretariat to house various ministries.

The IGNCA is currently located on the Man Singh Road.

The plan to shift the IGNCA, however, is yet to be finalised by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, which is the nodal ministry for the mega project, the sources said.

The redevelopment project of Central Vista envisages a triangular Parliament building next to the existing one, common Central Secretariat and the revamping of the 3-km-long Rajpath — from Rashtrapati Bhavan till India Gate.

The sources said that all cultural institutions will be relocated near Jamnagar House, adding that government has also planned to set up a state of the art National Centre for Performing Arts there.

The common Central Secretariat will comprise eight buildings, four on each side of Central Vista. Each building will have eight floors, which will house various ministries.

There are currently around 25,000 to 32,000 employees working in various ministries situated in different locations in the Lutyens’ Delhi. The common Central Secretariat will accommodate more employees at one place.

According to an estimate, the government is currently paying Rs 1,000 crore as rent annually for its offices spread across the national capital.

Under the project, several subways will be constructed to ensure movement of pedestrians around common Central Secretariat, which will also be connected through Yellow and Violet line of the Delhi Metro.

“There will be transit oriented development under the Central Vista project,” the sources said.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has estimated that redevelopment of Central Vista will cost around Rs 12,879 crore.

The new triangular Parliament building with seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs is targeted to be constructed by August 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day. The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024.

In October last year, Gujarat-based architecture firm HCP Designs won the consultancy bid for architectural and engineering planning of the Centre”s ambitious project.

The firm, which will be paid Rs 229.75 crore for consultancy services, will prepare the master plan for the project, including designs, cost estimation, landscape and traffic integration plans, and parking facilities among others.

IGNCA could to be shifted out of Lutyen's Delhi under Central Vista revamp plan
 
New Parliament complex may seat 1,350 members

Updated: Jan 19, 2020 04:55 IST
By Anisha Dutta
Hindustan times, New Delhi

The new Parliament complex, which has an earlier deadline, 2022, will be among the first plans to be finalised and tendered out, perhaps in the first half of this year itself.

1579410302514.png

The current design envisages a new triangular Parliament building next to the existing complex.

A new Lok Sabha central hall big enough to house 900 Members of Parliament (MPs), and flexible enough to house up to 1,350 MPs for a joint Parliament session will be the centerpiece of the Central Vista redevelopment plan that has a deadline of 2024.

The new Parliament complex, which has an earlier deadline, 2022, will be among the first plans to be finalised and tendered out, perhaps in the first half of this year itself. The current design of an evolving plan envisages a triangular complex, with a tri-coloured beam lighting up the sky overhead. And at a more mundane level, the MPs will sit comfortably in broad two-seater benches, accessible from either side so that no one will have to squeeze through — and which can, when a joint session is held, accommodate three.

The re-development will also see North and South Block, which house ministries, becoming museums; the creation of a central secretariat, and a redesigned Rajpath.

According to presentations made by the Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, the new triangular Parliament building will come up next to the existing complex, the Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts (IGNCA) will be relocated with some of the new government buildings coming up where it is located, and the National Archives will be remodeled. The Prime Minister’s residence will be shifted behind the existing South Block complex while the residence of the Vice President will move behind North Block.

First off the blocks will be the new Parliament complex and the government offices at IGNCA. The former will come up on 13 acres within the existing Parliament complex. And it will be much bigger than the current one, where the Lok Sabha hall simply can’t fit any more MPs. And there may soon be a need to.

New Complex

Barring a constitutional amendment, India will revisit a decision on the size of the Lok Sabha in 2026. In an article in Hindustan Times in March 2019, political scientists Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hintson projected that the Lok Sabha may need to have 848 members by 2026 to keep the spirit of proportional representation. Accordingly, the new complex is aimed to house 900 MPs. In December 2019, former President Pranab Mukherjee called for almost doubling the strength of the Lok Sabha to 1,000 lawmakers from the current 545.

According to Bimal Patel, the architect in charge of the redesign of Central Vista, the plan is to also create a separate lounge. Currently, the Central Hall functions as one, although it is not designed for the purpose. There may even be office space for MPs.

The current plan, according to Patel, “the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and, an open-to-sky courtyard around which there would be a lounge and in the middle there will be a foyer.” The offices will be along the periphery of the building.”

Seating Arrangement

Patel and his team studied seating arrangements in Parliaments of several countries including Cuba, Egypt, Singapore, and Germany. MPs have often complained of lack of space, especially during joint sessions.

There’s no space to be had in the current Lok Sabha. There are even seats “behind columns”, Patel said. A parliamentarian gets around 40cm by 50 cm of space to sit in the house now. This will increase to 60 by 60 under the new arrangement.

More importantly, Patel, pointed out, everyone gets a desk. “Currently, the desks are only for the first two rows. You can put your iPads or files on them.” And, of course, with two to a bench, “you really never have to go in front of anybody to sit down. That really is the most comfortable way to manage it,” he added. For joint sessions the desks will accommodate three MPs instead of two.

Symbolism


The shape of the present circular building designed by architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1912-13, was based on the Chausath Yogini temple, one of the oldest heritage sites in India.

Explaining the reason behind choosing a triangular structure for the new complex, Patel said,“One reason is functional: it’s triangular plot. Triangles are also very important in some sense. They are celebrated in all sacred geometries...; Why a spire atop the new Parliament? Think of churches, think of temples etc. In a secular democracy a sacred building is the Parliament and so famously referred to as the temple of democracy by the Prime Minister.”

Interestingly, the new design envisages windows of various sizes in Central Hall.

“We are making windows that will be of unequal size inside the hall. Why we are doing that? This reflects the diversity of India, everything is different here and hence not a single window should be the same in this room,” Patel said.

Technology

“Technology-wise we are looking at visual and acoustic factors. Acoustic is really important. Presently the acoustic tiles were put in afterwards. That time the rudimentary concept was to avoid echoing. Actually a sophisticated acoustic design is about the quality of sound you produce. That is best understood by acoustic engineers...we have a very good company which is full of physicists doing this,” Patel explained. There will also be in-built translation systems, he added.

Old Parliament Complex


The big question is the fate of the old Parliament building. Patel said the plan is still evolving. It was earlier planned to be converted in to a museum. The current thinking is to use it on some occasions, he added, pointing out that the building, while iconic, is “complex”, and had functionality added to it instead of being designed with that functionality in mind. “People cherish the way things are done, but we discover that many of them are only responses to a building that was never meant to be Parliament but nonetheless became....”

In August 2019, the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman urged the government to expand and modernise the colonial-era Parliament building.

Both the Chairs pointed out that the Parliament building was 92 years old and needed urgent repairs.

New Parliament complex may seat 1,350 members
 

While there are salary cuts, fiscal issues, lack of health infra, educational institute struggle Modi government has found thousands of acres is not enough to keep the trash.

They have their priorities sorted out! Respect only increase with such exceptional disconnect with reality.
 
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New home for PM, a triangular Parliament — Modi govt readies Delhi power corridor makeover

Buildings such as Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Rail Bhawan along the Central Vista will be demolished, North and South Blocks will become museums.

By Moushumi Das Gupta, 30 December, 2019 9:21 pm IST
View attachment 12627
A view of Delhi's Central Vista | Twitter | @HardeepSPuri

New Delhi: The Prime Minister of India is set to get a new residence, while many government buildings, including Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Rail Bhawan and Vayu Bhawan, will be demolished, as the Modi government readies the blueprint for its ambitious project to redevelop New Delhi’s Central Vista.

The redevelopment will also include a triangular Parliament building next to the existing one, to be completed by 2022, in time for the 75th anniversary of Independence, sources familiar with the developments told ThePrint. The other projects are to be completed by 2024.

The new PM residence will move to the southern side of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Rajiv Gandhi had made 7, Race Course Road (now Lok Kalyan Marg) his home as PM in 1984, but it was only in May 1990 that the urban development ministry declared the premises as the permanent residence-cum-office of the Prime Minister of India.

New Parliament

The new Parliament building will be triangular in shape, and is to be located opposite the existing one in the same premises. The old Parliament House, an iconic structure designed by renowned British architect Herbert Baker in 1931, will not be touched.

The new building will have a Lok Sabha with a capacity to seat 900-1,000 people, a Rajya Sabha and a common lounge in place of the current Parliament’s Central Hall.

Other heritage buildings such as the North and South Block will also not be touched. Both will be converted into museums — one showcasing India before 1857, and the other after 1857.

The Vice-President’s residence is set to move next to Rashtrapati Bhavan from the existing location, Maulana Azad Road.

Vigyan Bhavan is to be demolished and will make way for a modern conference hall.

Other plans

The demolished buildings will give way to 10 new eight-storeyed government buildings along Rajpath, part of a common central secretariat will house approximately one lakh government employees. The current government buildings at the Central Vista house approximately 35,000 employees.

“The demolition will happen in a phased manner to avoid major disruption,” said a housing ministry official.

The outer facade of all the new buildings will remain more or less like the existing ones, in sync with the surrounding aesthetics. However, inside, the structures will be mostly steel and glass, and will be equipped with the latest gadgets and modern facilities. All the buildings will also have an atrium with trees planted in the middle.

All the eight blocks will be shorter in height than India Gate. The canal alongside Rajpath as well as the gardens will not be tinkered with.

“The idea is to move government offices that are located across the city to one place. This will not only save time in commuting from one office to another but also resources,” the official added.

The government currently shells out Rs 1,000 crore on rent every year.

All the new offices are to be connected by an underground metro rail. “There will be a shuttle service between all the offices. We are in talks with DMRC to work out the details,” said a second housing ministry official.

Also in the plans are a walkway and a cycling path connecting India Gate to the Yamuna. Shuttle buses will also be available on the route.

The housing ministry is also planning a National Biodiversity Arboretum on 75 acres of land behind Rashtrapati Bhavan, which will have collections of plants from different climatic zones of India.

“It will be a public space, open to all,” said the second official.

The ministry will now hold town hall meetings with different stakeholders before the project goes off the drawing board.

New home for PM, a triangular Parliament — Modi govt readies Delhi power corridor makeover

Good. Looks like this will allow for speedy getaway in case of a nuclear war. The underground metro itself can keep most of the staff safe and double up as a command bunker.

And with the 800-1000 seat extension, it appears the govt is getting ready for major reforms in elections.
 
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Reactions: BlackOpsIndia
Good. Looks like this will allow for speedy getaway in case of a nuclear war. The underground metro itself can keep most of the staff safe and double up as a command bunker.

And with the 800-1000 seat extension, it appears the govt is getting ready for major reforms in elections.
So already looking for hideout putting population at risk?

A pilot POW can make you stand down with 40+ killed in terrorist attack and enemy bombing Indian Army base for your doubtful bombing of terrorist camp.

Yeah, sure, Nuclear attack karenge, sounds very Zaid Hamid.
 
So already looking for hideout putting population at risk?

A pilot POW can make you stand down with 40+ killed in terrorist attack and enemy bombing Indian Army base for your doubtful bombing of terrorist camp.

Yeah, sure, Nuclear attack karenge, sounds very Zaid Hamid.

We won't be attacking ourselves for "nuclear attack karange". Others have to attack us.
 
Tatas’ bid puts them in front to bag new Parliament building contract

Tata Projects Ltd has quoted a figure of Rs 861.90 crore and Larsen and Toubro Ltd has quoted its bid of Rs 865 crore for constructing the new Parliament complex.

Updated: Sep 16, 2020 18:18 IST
By Anisha Dutta
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
1600263674493.png

Design of the Parliament building with the emblem. (Photo by special arrangement)

Two Mumbai-based construction companies - Larsen & Toubro Limited and Tata Projects Limited - on Wednesday submitted financial bids after qualifying in the technical round for the tender to construct the new Parliament complex in which Tata Projects has emerged as the lowest bidder.

A spokesperson for Tata projects Ltd confirmed that the firm has emerged as the lowest bidder for the project. Tata Projects Ltd has quoted a figure of Rs 861.90 crore and Larsen and Toubro Ltd has quoted its bid of Rs 865 crore for constructing the new Parliament complex. According to the CPWD’s tender, the estimated cost of construction for the new building is Rs 889 crore.

In total, three bidders had qualified in the technical round but only two firms ended up submitting their financial bids. The firms were scheduled to submit the financial bids on Wednesday. “Only three parties had technically pre-qualified in the first round and only two have quoted their bids today. The firm that bags the contract will be issued a letter of award within a few days,” a senior government official said requesting anonymity. The contract is likely to be awarded to the lowest bidder, the official added. To be clear, in infrastructure projects the firm is finalised only after getting the letter of award for the project.

The government had narrowed the list of choices for building a new Parliament complex to three Mumbai-based construction companies -- Larsen & Toubro Limited, Tata Projects Limited and Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited -- after disqualifying four other entities that bid for the contract, bringing it a step closer to tendering out the project, Hindustan Times had first reported on August 12.

In the technical round Mumbai-based construction and civil engineering company ITD Cementation India Limited, Hyderabad-headquartered NCC Limited , PSP Projects Limited of Ahmedabad, and Uttar Pradesh state government’s UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited were disqualified from the project by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

Based on an evaluation, CPWD disqualified four companies for reasons including non-fulfilment of the criteria mentioned in the bid document. The tender laid out strict eligibility criteria based on a firm’s past work — such as having constructed an assembly hall with a minimum capacity of 1,000 people and a building with a basement — as well as ongoing projects, average monthly turnover, and net worth, among other factors. Bidders had to specify similar work completed in the past seven years, ongoing projects, as well as tentative plans to meet their manpower requirement, source of construction materials, and establishment of facilities such as those meant for fabrication.

The proposed work is of very prestigious nature and is required to be completed strictly within the prescribed time limit of 21 months with the highest standards of quality and workmanship, the bid document said. The bid document also specified that 50% of the workers will need to be skilled for work of stone masonry, carving, fresco, furniture, and adequate health and safety measures would need to be taken in view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.

Initially seven firms had evinced interest in the construction of the new Parliament building after pre-qualification bids invited by the Centre for its ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project. Work on the new Parliament, a ground plus two-storey triangular-shaped building, is expected to begin after the ongoing monsoon session, HT reported on September 15.

India’s national emblem is likely to sit atop the new Parliament building, according to the latest design iteration prepared for the tendering process, replacing a spire that was meant to come up in an earlier version. The new complex, with a built-up area of approximately 60,000 metre square, is set to come up on plot number 118 of the Parliament House Estate, which currently houses a reception, boundary walls and other temporary structures.

It will be among the first projects to be finalised and tendered out as part of the Central Vista redevelopment, which includes plans to turn North and South Block, situated opposite each other on Raisina Hill and which house top central government ministries, into a museum and the construction of new administrative offices with an underground metro.