Officials record CP ‘redevelopment’ on camera

Remember the popular series Megastructures on Nat Geo documenting the making of huge buildings? On similar lines, redevelopment of Connaught Place is being shot, which would be later converted into a documentary feature.

Remember the popular series Megastructures on Nat Geo documenting the making of huge buildings? On similar lines, redevelopment of Connaught Place is being shot, which would be later converted into a documentary feature.

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Now with the documentary film, common man would be able to see how the mammoth tunnel project undertaken in Connaught Place was challenging for the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). The tunnel running throughout the middle circle will carry utilities and refurbishing of the shops around.

It would be interesting for a layman to watch how the tunnel was constructed using the “reverse tunneling" process. The authorities first came up with almost 25-feet deep walls (the side walls of the tunnel) in the middle circle, put on the roof joining the two walls and then pulled out the soil below it. “But with 80-year-old buildings just five feet away, it was not as easy as it sounds,” he said.

The construction of the 1.2 kms long tunnel — 21 feet in width and 23 feet in height — running approximately five feet below the road surface in the middle circle was a major technological challenge. “This is no less than an engineering wonder. The process of engineering are so complex, these are worth recording,” said one of the architects associated with the project. The NDMC has undertaken redevelopment of Connaught Place since late last year. The ambitious overhauling also included addition of several subways on the outer circle among other things.