New Parliament building 70% complete, Lok Sabha told

Construction work on the new Parliament building is 70% complete, Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishore informed Lok Sabha on Thursday

Construction work on the new Parliament building is 70% complete, Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishore informed Lok Sabha on Thursday.

New Parliament building 70% complete, Lok Sabha told (PTI)

In a written response to a question from BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal, Kaushal said the new Parliament building will be ready by November 2022 and the three common central secretariat buildings by December 2023.

The winter session of Parliament this year is expected to be held in the new building, which is being constructed adjacent to the present one.

Kaushal on Thursday also said 24% of the work on the Vice President’s enclave is completed and is expected to be completed by January 2023.

Meanwhile, work on the revamped Central Vista Avenue is nearly complete, Kaushal told the Lok Sabha. Work on the avenue has been delayed several times over the past few months and no date has been finalised for its inauguration yet, officials of the Central Public Works Department said.

The minister also said various ministries and government departments are currently paying ₹1,171 crore annually as rent, because the government couldn’t provide them office space.

“Directorate of Estates (DoE) allots office space to Ministries / Departments in General Pool Office Accommodation (GPOA) buildings. DoE issues ‘Non-Availability Certificate’ (NAC) to the requisitioning Ministries / Departments in case office space is not available in GPOA buildings, so that they can hire office space from local bodies / Public Sector Undertakings/ private owners etc. DoE has issued NAC for 11.98 lakh sq ft in 2021-22 to various Ministries / Departments and 69 Departments have informed that they have been paying a total rent of ₹1,177.25 Cr. per annum for their office space,” Kishore said.