Rajghat power plant, Khyber Pass, MSO building, Indraprastha Estate — probable locations for new Delhi Secretariat

Indian Express

a day ago

PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said on Tuesday that the BJP-led government is looking at Rajghat Thermal Power Plant, Khyber Pass, ITO MSO building, and Indraprastha Estate near the WHO building, as key locations where the new Delhi Secretariat could be constructed. 'There are three to four good locations with huge spaces where a new secretariat can be constructed. Land is available at Rajghat Thermal Power Plant, which has been shut for years now… The available space is huge, measuring up to 18 acres,' Singh told mediapersons.
'A high-rise building can be built there like the civic centre, on a Public Private Partnership model, so that the government can recover the cost of the project at the same time while building a Secretariat,' he added. Officials said that 70% of the Rajghat Thermal Power Plant land is with the government and the remaining with the Delhi Development Authority. The plant has been defunct for the last 10 years.
'There are other land spaces available at Khyber Pass, Civil Lines near Vidhan Sabha, ITO and near the WHO building… Nothing is final yet, but these land spaces are being considered…,' said Singh.
At ITO, the MSO and Trade and Taxes building and Vikas Bhawan across the road come under the Delhi government.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had recently announced that the Delhi government will identify locations to build a new Secretariat, allowing all departments to operate under one roof.
Currently, the CM, ministers, and top bureaucrats handling charges of departments like Finance, Transport, Environment, Home, Education, and others, operate from the Secretariat located near Indira Gandhi Stadium in Indraprastha Estate.
Used to be called the Players' Building, it was built as a hotel to accommodate the players participating in the 1982 Asian Games. The building was found to be 'seismically unsafe' in 2023 in a study conducted by the PWD.
Officials said that due to lack of space, departments like Planning are soon going to shift to the DMRC building in Shastri Park. The government is planning to revamp the DTC headquarters, situated near IP Metro Station, they added.
The AAP government had proposed to build a new Secretariat in 2021. It had proposed demolishing the PWD and GST buildings as well as Vikas Sadan at ITO and constructing twin 35-storey towers.
The PWD had also issued a tender in December 2021 to hire a consultant, but the project, estimated to cost around Rs 1,200 crore, did not take off. In 2024, the PWD again came up with a draft proposal and an architectural plan and sent the file to former Chief Minister and PWD minister Atishi, but the project remained on paper.