What is the Central Vista project?

The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has been allocated Rs 2,600 crore in Union Budget 2022-23 for the construction of non-residential office buildings of the Central Vista redevelopment project, including the Parliament and Supreme Court. This is Rs 767.56 crore more than Rs 1,833.43 crore given in the last fiscal. For residential purposes, the ministry has been given Rs 873.02 crore.

 The Central Vista is India’s central administrative area located in New Delhi. During the colonial era, leading British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker had designed the Central Vista complex.

 It was inaugurated in 1931 and comprised Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, North and South Blocks and the Record Office, which was later named as The National Archives, along with the India Gate monument and the civic gardens on either side of the Rajpath.

 The redevelopment of Central Vista was conceived in September 2019, involving multiple projects spread over six years and estimated to cost Rs 20,000 crore.

Facing flak from opposition over it, the government said that a new parliament building was needed as the current one dates back to the 1920s and shows signs of “distress and over-use”.

The planned redevelopment works include the new triangular Parliament building, Chambers for Members of Parliament, the Central Vista Avenue, 10 buildings of the Common Central Secretariat, Central Conference Centre, Additional Buildings for National Archives, new Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts building, facilities for security officials, and official residences for the Vice President, Prime Minister, Executive Enclave with Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Secretariat, National Security Council Secretariat, relocation of National Museum in North & South Block etc. 

All these projects are planned in a phased and sequential manner till 2026. The project for New Parliament Building has been awarded at an estimated cost of Rs 862 crore to Tata Projects while the project for rejuvenation of Central Vista Avenue has been awarded at an estimated cost of Rs 477 crore to Shapoorji Pallonji Group.

The new Parliament building is scheduled to be completed by October 2022.

At present, 39 Ministries are housed on the Central Vista whereas around 12 Ministries have offices outside the Vista.

As part of the redevelopment, all the 51 Ministries are proposed to be located at one location to improve coordination. The present buildings of the Central Vista shall be replaced with modern office buildings with capacity to hold about 54,000 personnel. All these offices are proposed to be connected through a loop of automated underground people mover, over ground shuttles and walkways. 

Last year, Larsen & Toubro was awarded the contract for the construction and maintenance of the first three of the 10 buildings of the Common Central Secretariat.

Six infrastructure firms are now in the race to win the contract to construct the Executive Enclave, which will house the new PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, India House and National Security Council Secretariat.

A ‘Nav Bharat Udyan’ is also planned along the Yamuna River as part of the project, which will stretch from the India Gate till the river.

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