Lutyens’ Delhi to be revamped to bring it to ‘international standards’

This will be the first such kind of project since the early 20th Century when New Delhi was first established, an official said.

MoHUA floated a Request For Proposal on September 2, inviting national and international firms to pitch their design ideas to fundamentally change the face of Delhi’s landmark areas.

Discussions for the project have been ongoing for the past six months and the pre-bidding meeting was held Thursday.

A national high-level committee will be constituted soon, officials said, adding that they hope to shortlist firms by October 15.

Sources said the project would require three years to be completed after its initiation, and the plan is to complete renovation of the Parliament building by India’s 75th Independence Day in 2022.

Sources said that while the outer structure of the Parliament will be retained, it will be renovated from the inside, including providing extra rooms for MPs, and additional space for more representatives once the delimitation process is over. Officials said that if required, another building will be built nearby.

Similarly, the North and South blocks of the Central Secretariat may be emptied as these are not earthquake resistant. The offices will be shifted to a new central complex which would house all offices of the central government for increased overall efficiency and increased space for officials, said officials.

The 3-km Rajpath would also be redeveloped in a year.

Officials said the plan would bring Delhi’s government houses at par with those in Washington DC and Beijing, with all modern facilities and standards, street and traffic plans in place, to make conduct of business as smooth as possible.

Officials have said they are open to designs that would ensure the modernisation of the offices of Lutyens’ Delhi, Parliament House and Rajpath.