Central Vista: Rs 1,119 crore lowest bid for Executive Enclave! Will house new PMO, Cabinet Secretariat & more
The Executive Enclave that will house the PMO, India House, Cabinet Secretariat as well as the National Security Council Secretariat, a key part of the Central Vista redevelopment project, has received four bids among which Ahluwalia Contracts India Limited, which is headquartered in the national capital, made the lowest bid of Rs 1,119 crore. On Tuesday afternoon, the CPWD had opened the financial bids for the tender and had estimated the project to cost an amount of Rs 1,160.17 crore for the construction as well as maintenance for five years. Tata Projects Limited, which is building the new Parliament building, submitted Rs 1,154.95 crore bid, while NCC Limited quoted an amount of Rs 1,158.31 crore. L&T, which won the bid to build the first three buildings of the Common Central Secretariat in the year 2021, had the highest bid of Rs 1,317.95 crore, according to an IE report.
As per the CPWD tender document, the Central Vista project would include the Prime Minister’s Office, a Hyderabad House-like conference facility called India House, the Cabinet Secretariat as well as the National Security Council Secretariat. The department had first invited pre-qualification bids for the Central Vista project last year on November 24, with an estimated amount of Rs 1,171 crore, and received bids from six companies, which were then asked to submit financial bids by Tuesday.
In the Central Vista renovation’s elaborate plan that requires moving people as well as offices over the course of the next six years, the first buildings to be completed would be Vice-President’s enclave and the new Parliament House and work on shifting the National Museum to the North and South Block will commence at last. The North Block and South Block, which house the Union home, finance ministry and defence ministry, other than the PMO, will be vacated last because these crucial departments will need to be set up in their newly constructed offices first.
As per the plan, the existing plots in the South Block, where the buildings are proposed to be constructed, will be demolished first. The plots where the Prime Minister’s Office and the Executive Enclave are proposed to be constructed are presently occupied by Defence establishment hutments that have been relocated to New Delhi’s KG Marg and Africa Avenue. Work on PM’s new residence will also go beyond the completion target of December 2022.
Earlier this month, the government informed the Parliament that the New Parliament building has an ambitious target of completion by this year October is 44 per cent complete at Rs 480 crore cost incurred so far. The aim of the government is to conduct the Winter Session of the Parliament in the new building. Nearly 80 per cent work for the revamped Central Vista Avenue or the Rajpath has been completed at a cost of Rs 441 crore, while for the Vice President’s enclave, the physical progress is at 3 per cent, and also, the three new Common Secretariat buildings are at 3 per cent with Rs 243 crore spent so far, as per a response by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in the Parliament.