india

Updated: Oct 26, 2019 04:32 IST

The contract for designing the ambitious revamp of New Delhi’s Central Vista, or Rajpath, the seat of power in the national capital, was awarded to Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning And Management Private Limited on Friday.

The firm of architects was involved in the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project in Ahmedabad and is also the chief architect of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, in Varanasi. HCP Design was also the architect of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s new headquarters in New Delhi, which was inaugurated last year.

Hindustan Times on October 20 reported that HCP was the front-runner for the project. After the government met on September 12, six companies submitted bids out of which four were shortlisted-- HCP Design, Planning And Management; INI Design Studio, Ahmedabad; and New Delhi-based C.P. Kukreja Architects and Sikka Associates Architects.

A competitive bidding process — Quality and Cost Based Selection-- was adopted to choose the designer, giving 80% weightage to the technical aspects of the project and 20% to quality. A five-member jury led by PSN Rao, director of the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi; was formed to select the winner.

“The technically correct way of doing these things is to have an eminent jury......their views were unanimous and gave a clear recommendation. We will have extensive consultations with all stakeholders and these will be in the public domain. Those who have not been finally awarded -- we will also be meeting them and getting ideas from them to factor them in the final process,” Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Puri said.

The Centre has sanctioned a consultancy cost of ₹229.75 crore for the project. The estimated cost of construction of the entire project is around ₹12,000 crore, according to senior officials.

“The final awarded price is way below the upper limit to which the tendering could go,” Puri said.

The government is planning to restructure the Central Vista in a move that might include revamping or building a new Parliament House by 2022 and razing a dozen government offices to build an integrated complex by 2024, HT has previously reported.

The area, roughly 4 sq km in size, along Rajpath, which runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan through Vijay Chowk and India Gate in central Delhi, would be completely revamped. Architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker planned the Central Vista and most of the iconic buildings in the area were constructed between 1911 and 1931, when the capital was inaugurated.

Puri clarified that the existing Parliament complex, which was completed in 1927, will not be demolished. New structures may be erected on vacant land within the complex, the seat of India’s supreme legislative body, and refurbishments made to suit contemporary requirements.

The plan includes razing buildings such as Shastri Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan that house important government ministries to build a common secretariat for roughly 70,000 central government employees who now currently work across 30 buildings. The deadline for construction is March 2024.

“Nowhere during the process was there ever any suggestion that old heritage buildings would be touched but at the same time when frivolous or misguided comments come, I offer a guided tour to them {those who make the comments} to Lok Nayak Bhawan or Shastri Bhawan and if they find anything of heritage value, we will happily preserve that as well,” Puri said.

The Centre has set a November 2021 timeline for completing the Central Vista project. Work on the Parliament complex is to be completed by March 2022 and the common Central Secretariat by March 2024. After a master plan for the project is prepared, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) would be tasked with awarding the work to eligible contractors.

“ With an aim of improving the old buildings on Raisina Hills, make improved common secretariat buildings, refurbish old Parliament building, make new space for new requirement of MPs and upgrade the entire Central Vista area by revisiting the entire Master Plan, a world class consultant was required. It is an iconic project, as the minister has reiterated; the work that we are doing here is not for the next 50-100 years. It is for the next 250 years,” ministry of housing and urban affairs secretary Durga Shanker said.

HCP Design has also designed the Mumbai Port Complex and the new campus of the IIM- Ahmedabad. “It is a highly prestigious project and also a very daunting challenge as it has many aspirations and needs attached to it. It has to be done in a very conscientious manner,” HCP Design director Bimal Patel, who was awarded the Padma Shri this year, said.”What we have proposed thus far is still at a proposal stage and has not been fully approved,” Patel added.

The plan also involves retrofitting of North and South Blocks, he said.

Sikka Associates Architects said it would be willing to contribute to the project.

“Both as masterplan architects involved with the project concept design and as citizens of Delhi, we will be pleased to contribute to the fulfilment of the new Central Vista,” said Raman Sikka, principal architect at the company.