Central Vista Project

Central Vista Project is a grand redevelopment project of India’s central administrative area located near Raisina Hill, New Delhi. The project also called the ”Prime Minister’s dream project‘ was announced on 13th September 2019. The project is scheduled between 2020 to 2024.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the New triangular Parliament building was held on December 10, 2020. The building will be completed by August 2022 when India will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day. The New building will have a capacity of 900 to 1200 MP seats. The Parliament building is being constructed at an estimated cost of ₹862 crores and the Central Vista Avenue at ₹477 crores. The total cost of the project is projected to be Rs 20,000 crore. The government has said the new Central Vista project will save Rs 1,000 crore spent annually on rent expenditure. With redevelopment, the government aims to provide more office space in its vicinity.

The original Parliament building was constructed during the British Raj in 1927 when it moved its capital from Calcutta to Delhi. After independence, it became the seat for the new government. The Central Vista Redevelopment Project includes converting North and South Blocks into public museums. The new secretariat buildings to house all ministries, shifting the Prime Minister and Vice president residences near the North and South Blocks. The 3 km long Rajpath between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate will be revamped.

The project will mean the demolition and relocation of iconic Indian institutions: the National Museum of India, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), and the National Archives Annex. All the existing buildings have outlived their structural lives and there is a need for a new state-of-art Parliament building in close vicinity. So that a modern and close workspace with the latest technology will help in better productivity and efficient utilization of human resources.

Central Vista Project Plan of Redevelopment

The plan includes a new triangular Parliament Building to be built beside the existing structure. The new building will have a larger seating capacity than the old building. The old structure will be modified for more functional spaces and will be retained as an archeological asset of the country. Central Vista Avenue (Rajpath) will be built on a 3km long Rajpath. It will have more trees, benches, green areas, parking lots, wide footpaths, bridges over canals, and pedestrian underpasses.

On either side of Rajpath, ten doughnut-shaped buildings will be built as Common Central Secretariat. They will be interconnected to each other by electric people-movers in underground ways and overground buses. A new Central Conference Center will be built and the old Vigyan Bhavan will be demolished. There will be a new residence and office of the Prime Minister and the Vice-President. A new building will also be built for Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts which is currently on Man Singh Road.

All the new buildings that will be constructed will have a height of fewer than 42 meters (the height of India Gate). The old structures of the parliament, North and South Block, Presidential Gardens will be repurposed while Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, and National War Memorial will be retained as it is.