New Delhi: Estimated project costs from new parliament buildings have dropped by almost 24% to around 1,200 crore rs because of additional work, changes in the construction plan, and also to comply with the direction of the Supreme Court.
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has requested the principle approval of the Secretariat Lok Sabha to estimate the revised costs, the source said.
CPWD recently presented the details of the costs and details of work-in projects to the five member panels that have been formed by the government to monitor the steps of all works under the project to rebuild Mega Central Vista, they added.
The new parliamentary development project is given to Tata Project at RS 971 Crore and 40% of the current work is complete.
The government set 2022 October as a deadline so the winter session can be held in a new building.
While spokesperson for project consultants, HCP design, planning and management, said CPWD or the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs are more suitable to answer questions about escalation of costs, none of the government institutions respond to TOI questions.
The question sent to Lok Sabha Secretary General was also not answered.
Resources say while this project is planned to meet the requirements of safe structures in areas that fall under the seismic-IV zone, then felt that to increase the life of the building must meet the requirements of the structure falling under the Seismic Zone V.
“Even though Delhi fell under the zone -IV, the structure has been strengthened to adhere to the norms for buildings in zone-v.
This has resulted in an increase in costs to a certain extent, “an official said.
Also, connectivity through the tunnel from the proposed Prime Minister’s residence and connectivity is similar to the proposed parliamentary member space also produces a cost increase.
This is not taken into account in the original estimation.
In addition, fresh provisions have also been made for modern audio-visual systems to be installed in both parliamentary houses, meeting rooms and minister’s room, which leads to a cost increase.
Compliance with the direction of the Supreme Court also contributes to the increase in construction costs.
Quoting an example, an official said all earths excavated from the project location have been transported to the proposed Park Eco in the freight, although in accordance with the condition of the supply, the contractor was allowed to sell the earth dug.