New Delhi: After missing several deadlines, the revamp of the 3 km-long Central Vista Avenue, one of the national capital’s largest public spaces that stretches from Vijay Chowk to India Gate, is finally complete, officials in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) told ThePrint.
Earlier supposed to be completed by December 2021, the project saw delays, which led to it missing two more deadlines — May and July 2022.
The Central Vista Avenue, which includes Rajpath, has been closed to the public since February 2021. A senior ministry official, who did not want to be named, confirmed to ThePrint that redevelopment work on the Avenue is over and it will be opened shortly, but the inauguration date is yet to be finalised.
The revamped Rs 477 crore Central Vista Avenue is part of the Central Vista redevelopment project aimed at giving Delhi’s power corridor a complete makeover. The need to refurbish the Avenue arose due to the existing structure having undergone massive wear and tear over the years due to heavy use.
The Avenue, among other things, will have a 1.5 km granite pavement on both sides, 99 acres of expansive lawns, 16 food stalls, an amphitheatre for open air performances, low-level bridges over refurbished canals, and improved public amenities.
The senior ministry official further said that “care has been taken to ensure that the area and its surrounding retains its essential character” while refurbishing the existing infrastructure. For instance, the original tree-lined landscape of Rajpath will not be tinkered with in any way.
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What the public can expect
The green cover on Rajpath is set to increase — the lawn space will increase from 3.5 lakh square metres to 3.9 lakh square metres — and there will be 12 low-level bridges over the water canals. There will also be a tree avenue and the space will be disability-friendly.
Four underpasses will connect the entire stretch, making it a seamless walkable avenue, and the parking spaces developed will accommodate approximately 1,000 cars at a time.
Visitors and tourists will also have access to the dedicated vending spaces, which will include 16 food stalls. Until now, vendors were positioned in a haphazard way on Rajpath, which would cause much inconvenience to the public visiting the area and often lead to massive traffic bottlenecks.
The overall Central Vista revamp project is being implemented in a phased manner by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Gujarat-based architect Bimal Patel’s firm HCP Designs had won the bid in October 2019 to design the project.
The other structures coming up as part of the redevelopment project are a new triangle-shaped Parliament, a new residence for the prime minister, and 10 new building blocks to accommodate government offices, including Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan, Krishi Bhawan and Vayu Bhawan.
These buildings currently house the offices of different central ministries such as education, health, housing, agriculture, commerce, as well as of the Indian Air Force.
A walkway and a cycling path linking India Gate to the Yamuna river is also on the cards.
A shuttle bus will ply on this route. The MoHUA is also planning a National Biodiversity Arboretum spread over 75 acres behind the Rashtrapati Bhavan, which will house collections of plants from different climatic zones of India.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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