NDMC to take over Connaught Place renovation

The NDMC has decided to take over the long delayed renovation of Connaught Place here after finding fault with the firm executing the task, its chief Jalaj Shrivastava said Sunday.

"We are going to hire a new company for the overall maintenance of each and every facility in Connaught Place," Shrivastava said in a statement.

He said the company ordered to renovate Connaught Place, Delhi's oldest shopping complex, had failed to live up to its promise to finish the work before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"We are going to remove the company from all the works in a phased manner," Shrivastava said. "We will carry out the repair and maintenance ourselves."

The new company which would be hired in its place would have to deliver on time or pay a penalty.

The NDMC, the smallest of the civic agencies in the national capital, also wants to provide a central air-condition system in the British-built Connaught Place in the name of the first Duke of Connaught.

Shrivastava said he disliked the air-conditioning machines jutting out of windows of shops. "We can have a centralized cooling system," he said.

The NDMC chairperson admitted that drainage was a problem even in the NDMC area, which is home to the best known VIPs in the country.

"Construction debris and other garbage have found its way in the drains and blocked them," he said.

He said the NDMC had ordered two machines to clean the major drains in the area.