Central Vista: Bids invited for tunnel to connect V-P, PM houses

The Central Public Works Department hasinvited bids to build a part of an underground tunnel project at the new Vice President’s Enclave being developed at Church Road near North Block that will ultimately connect the residences of the vice-president and Prime Minister with the new Parliament building, officials said.

The agency has also invited pre-qualification bids for the construction of the Prime Minister’s new residential complex at Dara Shikoh Road, adjacent to Rashtrapati Bhawan and South Block, while the work of the Executive Enclave that will house the Prime Minister’s Office is yet to be awarded, they said.

The 200m subterranean tunnel will cost ₹21.3 crore. The development of the ₹206 crore Vice President’s Enclave started earlier this year and is expected to be ready by January. The Union housing and urban affairs ministry informed the Lok Sabha in August that the construction work was 24% complete.

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The construction of the tunnel has to be completed within four months from the date of award of the work, CPWD said. “Currently, the tunnel will be within the V-P Enclave premises, as the construction work is already going on. It will be later joined to the tunnel proposed to connect it to the new Parliament building and PM’s new residence. The plan is yet to be finalised,” a CPWD official said, seeking anonymity.

To be sure, the plan for the tunnel connecting the three locations is yet to be finalised.

The new Prime Minister’s residential complex, to be built at a cost of ₹360 crore, will have a two- storeyed building as residence, another building for the Prime Minister’s home office, guest house, and an office for the Special Protection Group, quarters for support staff, CPWD office and a basement parking lot, among others. Spread over 15 acres, it will have four entry and exit gates and 25 watchtowers.

The tunnel is the sixth project to be tendered as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project. While the Central Vista Avenue was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, work on the new Parliament building is likely to be completed by November, a housing and urban affairs ministry official said.

The construction of three common central secretariat buildings is going on but the work to build the Executive Enclave is yet to be awarded, officials said.

The pre-qualification bids for the Prime Minister’s residential complex will be opened on October 14, according to the tender document. Construction companies shortlisted in the pre-qualification process will be allowed to participate in the financial bids.

The construction of the complex will be completed within 21 months from the award of work. The construction company that will be awarded the work will have to plan for tree transplantation and shifting of utilities.

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The Executive Enclave is the fourth project to be tendered by the CPWD as part of the ₹13,500-crore Central Vista redevelopment project. It will house the Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Secretariat and National Security Council Secretariat. Bids for the project were first invited in November 2021 and the project cost was estimated around 1,171 crore. Ahluwalia Contracts India Limited emerged as the lowest bidder when the financial tender was opened in March this year.

Housing and urban affairs ministry officials didn’t comment on the matter.

The CPWD invited fresh bids in May after the scope of work was increased. DEC Infrastructure and Projects (India) Private Limited, a Hyderabad-based construction firm, emerged as the lowest bidder for the construction of Executive Enclave. “The firm had quoted ₹1,189 crore for the project against the proposed cost of ₹1,328 crore,” said a CPWD official.