New civic centre to house MCD hqrs to be ready by year-end: Mayor

New Delhi, Apr 9 (UNI) Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra today said its new civic centre coming up near the New Delhi Railway Station, proposed to be the new headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, would be ready by this year end.

Talking to reporters during inspection of construction work at the civic centre, touted to be the tallest structure of Delhi with an approximate height in excess of 100m, Ms Arti Mehra said the construction of the civic centre, to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore, would be complete by the end of this year.

''At present, the construction work is in full swing and Tower block has touched the 28th floor on March 30. The project is likely to complete by December, 2008 for commissioning. In fact, the mock up sample floor having all the architectural finish, plumbing work, fire fighting work, HV AC work and electrical work has been completed at the third floor,'' the Mayor said.

The complex is being built on an area of 1,16,755 sq m of which 58,377.5 sq m will be commercial space and the rest 58,377.5 sq m will be the institutional area.

Ms Mehra said a number of Government departments had expressed an interest in having their offices in the building, situated at the intersection of Minto Road and Jawaharlal Nehru Marg.

''Talks are at an advanced stage with the Income Tax Department who will have their offices in the 28-storey building. Besides, several other government departments have also evinced interest in housing their offices here,'' she said.

Addressing reporters, Chairman of the MCD Standing Committee Vijender Gupta said the present headquarters of the MCD had already been declared a heritage building and were located in a congested area, making it difficult for the public to reach there.

Once the construction work on the civic centre was complete, the Town Hall complex would be vacated and occupants shifted to this new complex under one roof.

The Mayor said efforts had been made by the corporation to ensure that arrival of a large number of people at the centre did not cause any traffic congestion in the area.

Traffic management plan on roads leading to and around the New Delhi Railway Station and the civic centre building had been prepared in such a way that it would ease out traffic congestion.

To facilitate the balance distribution of traffic on various roads and signal free movement at intersections and junctions, a number of subways, foot overbridges and underpasses had been proposed in and around the area under a scheme approved by the DDA technical committee in February last year.

Further, all routes around the civic centre will be widened and strengthened.

Ms Arti Mehra said all the components of the scheme, amounting to Rs 187.83 crore, had been finalised after discussion with the Indian Railway, DMRC, Delhi Traffic Police, PWD and all other concerned agencies.

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