Central Vista revamp: MPs' offices to come up in place of two buildings

NEW DELHI: The Shram Shakti Bhavan and Transport Bhavan in Lutyens' Delhi will be the first two buildings to be razed to pave the way for the construction of chambers of Members of Parliament there as part of Central Vista redevelopment project.

An official from HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd, which has prepared the master plan of the ambitious project, said that MP offices will come up where Shram Shakti Bhavan and Transport Bhavan are currently located on Rafi Marg and Sansad Marg respectively.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building where the Lok Sabha chamber will have a seating capacity for 888 members, while the Rajya Sabha will have 384 seats for members.

The National Emblem will crown the new Parliament building.

According to the plan, a tunnel would be constructed to connect the building with chambers of MPs in the Parliament complex.

"The new Parliament will have six committee rooms to conduct business," the HCP official said.

The government has identified around four locations -- in Gole Market, K G Marg, near Africa Avenue and near Talkatora Stadium -- in central Delhi for the temporary shifting of offices of various ministries.

Government sources said that the demolition of buildings will be carried out in phases to ensure smooth functioning of various ministry offices.

To construct Common Central Secretariat for ministry offices, several buildings like Shastri Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan among others are likely to be demolished.

The redevelopment project of Central Vista -- the nation's power corridor -- envisages a new triangular parliament building, a common central secretariat and revamping of the 3-km-long Rajpath, from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.

According to the CPWD's latest proposal for the redevelopment of Central Vista, the prime minister's new residential complex will have 10 four-storey buildings with a maximum height of 12 metres.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which is executing the project, has revised the estimated cost from Rs 11,794 crore to Rs 13,450 crore.

The prime minister's new residence will be built on a 15-acre plot and it will have 10 buildings and they will have ground plus three floors, the CPWD said in its proposal.