Central Vista revamp: Rs 1,119-crore bid lowest for Executive Enclave that will house new PMO

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had opened the financial bids for the tender on Tuesday afternoon and had estimated the project to cost Rs 1,160.17 crore for the construction and maintenance for five years.

Tata Projects Limited, which is constructing the new Parliament building as a part of the Central Vista revamp, submitted a bid of Rs 1,154.95 crore, while NCC Limited quoted Rs 1,158.31 crore. Larsen & Toubro Limited, which won the bid to construct the first three buildings of the Common Central Secretariat in 2021, had the highest bid of Rs1,317.95 crore.

According to the CPWD tender document, the project would include the PMO, a Hyderabad House-like conference facility to be called India House, the Cabinet Secretariat and the National Security Council Secretariat.

The CPWD had first invited pre-qualification bids for the project on November 24 last year, with an estimated cost of Rs 1,171 crore, and received bids from six firms, which were then asked to submit financial bids by Tuesday.

The Vice-President’s enclave and the new Parliament House will be the first buildings to be completed, and work on shifting the National Museum to the North and South Block will commence last, in the elaborate plan for the Central Vista revamp that requires moving people and offices over the course of the next six years.

The North and South Block, which house the Union home, finance and defence ministries, apart from the PMO, will be the last to be vacated because these crucial departments will need to be set up in their newly built offices first.

The existing plots in the South Block, where the buildings are proposed to be built, will first be demolished, as per the plan.

The plots where the PMO and the Executive Enclave are proposed to be built are currently occupied by Defence establishment hutments that have been relocated to KG Marg and Africa Avenue in New Delhi.

Work on Prime Minister’s new residence will also go beyond the December 2022 completion target, The Indian Express reported on November 4, 2021.

The New Parliament building that has an ambitious target of completion by October this year is 44% complete at a cost of Rs 480 crore incurred so far, the government informed Parliament earlier this month.

The government’s aim is to conduct the Winter Session of the Parliament in the new building. Nearly 80% work for the re-developed Central Vista Avenue or the Rajpath has been completed at Rs 441 crore, while the physical progress for the Vice-President’s enclave is at 3%, and the three new Common Secretariat buildings, too, are at 3% with Rs 243 crore spent so far, according to a response in Parliament by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.