End of an era: PMO likely to vacate South Block, move to new Seva Teerth complex after January 14

While the Cabinet Secretariat moved into the new complex in September 2025, the NSCS is expected to shift into Seva Teerth soon, ahead of the PM’s move, according to government sources.

The PM himself is expected to move into the new office complex after January 14, the Makar Sankranti day.

New seat of power

The PMO, the Cabinet Secretariat and the NCSC have one building each in the complex. Earlier, the Cabinet Secretariat was functioning from the premises of Rashtrapati Bhavan, while the NSCS worked out of Sardar Patel Bhavan on Parliament Street. In addition to the Executive Enclave Part 1, a new residence for the Prime Minister, called the Executive Enclave Part 2, is also under construction nearby.

Sources said most offices in the new PMO building will be like modern workspaces in the recently completed secretariat buildings, Kartavya Bhavan, under the Central Vista plan, in terms of the finishing. The PM’s own office and the rooms meant for ceremonial purposes during high-level visits will have a grander look in keeping with the nature of the use, it is learnt.

The complex has been constructed by Larsen and Toubro for the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which had awarded the contract in 2022.

The “CPWD awarded the contract for construction of Executive Enclave, New Delhi to Larsen and Toubro Ltd., at 10.44% below the estimated cost put to tender, amounting to Rs. 1189 crore on November 15, 2022. The construction firm is required to complete the work within 24 months,” the CPWD had said in a post on X on November 24, 2022.

Since then, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the CPWD have not disclosed much else about the project, a decision that sources said was due to the security implications. A query regarding the project, including its completion cost, sent to the MoHUA did not elicit a response.

Since the tenure of the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, the PMO has worked out of South Block, which was constructed along with North Block as the Secretariat buildings by the imperial British government in the 1920s-1930s. As part of the redevelopment of the area, the CPWD is set to convert South and North Block into a national museum, which would open up the red-sandstone buildings atop Raisina Hill to the public for the first time ever.

Work on restoration of North Block started last year after the ministries of Home Affairs and Finance located there shifted to the new Kartavya Bhavan complex on Janpath. The CPWD has already floated a tender for restoration of South Block as well and work will start once the building is vacated.

Announced in 2019 by the MoHUA, the Central Vista redevelopment project includes the construction of the new Parliament building, which was completed in 2023, the Vice-President’s Enclave, which was completed in 2024, and 10 new Common Central Secretariat buildings, of which the first three have been constructed and named Kartavya Bhavan in 2025.