Delhi: Bhikaji Cama and Nehru Place revamp now closer to reality

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has set July 31 and June 30 as the deadlines for the completion of the upgrade of Bhikaji Cama Place and the Nehru Place District Centre,respectively.

The DDA in its budget for 2023-24 has kept a provision of Rs 65 crore for the remaining retrofitting and upgrading work in these two commercial centres, which includes the construction of a multi-level car park, an official said. Traders, however, said that progress was slow and the authority needed to pull up its socks.

The main features of the Bhikaji Cama Place upgrade involve façade improvement, basement renovation along replacement of the firefighting system.

“The work on the firefighting system is complete and the improvement of toilets is in progress. Flooring stones in all the buildings in the district centre have been replaced with granite and plazas are being developed between these buildings. These would feature tensile structures of different heights along with new seating, kiosks, smart LED lighting poles with Wi-Fi and CCTV cameras,” a DDA official said. The project also includes installation of eight escalators in the district centre and a passenger lift. “We are in the process of installing the escalators. The footpaths are being upgraded for smooth pedestrian movement and parking spaces have been upgraded by laying new paver tiles. The construction of two toilets is almost complete,” the official said. He said the upgrade is proposed to be disabled-friendly

The DDA has also proposed an amphitheatre with LED screens in the central area of the district centre and construction of shops of various sizes. “To mitigate the issue of water logging and to conserve rain waste, a robust drainage system and construction of 12 rainwater harvesting structures is complete,” the official said. At the Nehru Place Commercial Centre, work is in progress for a skywalk connecting the Metro to the main Market and work for a road and footpath too are on, officials said.

Planned four years ago, the skywalk is aimed at connecting the concourse area of the Metro station with the Central Plaza near Satyam Cinema. Once complete, commuters won’t need to climb down the elevated station and cross the busy Astha Kunj Road to reach the Nehru Place District Centre. Though officials claimed that work on six out of 10 toilet blocks have been completed, shopkeepers claimed that there was no proper facility in the market. “Most of the toilets are partly renovated/constructed and locked all the time so it is impossible to use them. The overall progress on the project is really slow. As a result, work which was done in phase I has started losing its sheen. The buildings are also not repaired properly,” said Inder Kohli, a member of Nehru Place Traders Association (NPTA). Traders also said that no tensile work had started on ground yet. The overall upgrading was started by the DDA in December 2019. The skywalk started taking shape recently.

“As far as the revamp of the Nehru Place complex is concerned, the project included improving the building facades, the drainage system, upgrading of the public plaza, tensile structures and seating arrangements and constructing of 10 new toilet blocks,” an official said.
The Nehru Place District Centre, built in 1972 and spread over nearly 94.4 acres, has 89 buildings. The complex was handed over to the erstwhile SDMC for maintenance about 30 years ago. Due to the dilapidated condition of the complex, DDA started renovating it.