What change does Central Vista bring to India's corridors of power?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening inaugurated the revamped 3-km-long Central Vista Avenue, which extends from Rashtrapati Bhawan to the India Gate. The tree-lined space flanked by green spaces and water channels is one of the most visited tourist places in Delhi and is best known for the annual Republic Day parade. 

PM Modi also unveiled the 28-feet black granite statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, which is placed under the India Gate canopy. The statue is hand-sculpted by a team led by renowned sculptor Arun Yogiraj from a single block of granite stone weighing 280 metric tonne. The block of stone was brought to Delhi from Telangana and it took two months to carve the statue of Bose from it.

The avenue was named Kingsway by the British after King George V, who visited Delhi during the Delhi Durbar of 1911 and shifted the capital from Calcutta to the city. Post-Independence, it was renamed Rajpath. A road bisecting the Kingsway was named Queensway. It is now known as Janpath.

Now Rajpath has once again been renamed as Kartavya Path, which translates to path of duty. This is the first project that has been completed under the Modi government’s larger ambitious Central Vista redevelopment plan.

The redevelopment project of the nation’s power corridor envisages a new triangular Parliament building, 10 buildings of the Common Central Secretariat, revamping the Rajpath, a new prime minister’s residence and office, a new vice-president’s enclave, Central Conference Centre, Additional Buildings for National Archives, among others. 

Conceived in September 2019, the planned redevelopment is estimated to cost Rs 20,000 crore and involves projects spread over 6 years till 2026. 

The project for the New Parliament Building was awarded at an estimated cost of Rs 862 crore to Tata Projects. The project for rejuvenation of Central Vista Avenue was awarded at an estimated cost of Rs 477 crore to Shapoorji Pallonji Group.

Larsen & Toubro bagged the contract for the construction and maintenance of the first three of the 10 buildings of the Common Central Secretariat. In October 2019, architect Bimal Patel’s Gujarat-based firm HCP Design had won the consultancy bid for the Central Vista redevelopment. 

The consultancy services include master plan, building designs, cost estimation, landscape and traffic integration plans and parking facilities.

HCP has developed several projects including Sabarmati Riverfront Development, Central Vista and state secretariat in Gandhinagar, Mumbai Port Complex, redevelopment of Varanasi temple complex, IIM Ahmedabad’s new campus and CII-SN Centre of Excellence Kolkata etc.

Recently, Hyderabad-based DEC Infrastructure emerged as the lowest bidder for building the Executive Enclave that will house the PMO, the Cabinet Secretariat, the India House and the National Security Council Secretariat. It had quoted an amount of around Rs 1,189 crore.

The government in August said that 70% of work on the new Parliament building project has been achieved and the targeted date of completion is November 2022. The new Rajya Sabha hall is being built with a capacity of 384 seats while the new Lok Sabha hall will have 770 seats, with an additional capacity of up to 1134 seats for hosting joint sessions. The Vice President’s enclave is expected to be completed by January 2023.