Top cos line up for space in civic centre

NEW DELHI: Around 15 companies like Reliance and Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited have shown interest in acquiring space in the 28-storey commercial complex — part of the upcoming MCD civic centre — which is being touted as the tallest building in the Capital. Around 30% of the work in this multi-storey civic centre, which is being constructed at Jawaharlal Nehru Marg in Minto Road, has been completed.

The centre will house mostly offices of the MCD and will finally replace Town Hall as the civic agency’s headquarters. Besides the Indian firms, a company from Dubai — Emaar MGF Consortium — has expressed interest in the commercial complex. The centre is supposed to be completed by December 2008 under a budget of Rs 550 crore.

There will be separate entry and exit ways for the commercial complex and the MCD deliberative wing. The commercial space will be given on a 30 year lease and is expected to generate 1,000 crore in revenue that will not only help cover the loan of Rs 250 crore taken from National Capital Region Planning Board but will also ensure extra revenue for the civic agency.

According to the MCD, the building has also been planned in an environment-friendly manner. Said an official: ‘‘We have only used flyash bricks for construction. The water that we extracted from underground has been put to use for horticulture purposes and around 600 trees, which were uprooted during construction, have been re-planted in Smriti Van.’’ Plans for a helipad in case of emergency and a public addressal system with a video-conferencing room are also underway.

Added the official: ‘‘We will also construct an in-house fire station which will have two fire-tenders standing at all times.’’ To cover the costs like connecting the centre to the Metro and construction of underpasses, the budget allocation have been made under JNURM. On a given day, the building is expected to receive upto 11,000 people.

Said an official: ‘‘Block-A will be the deliberative wing, block-B public dealing wing, C the cultural wing, D will have restaurants while block-E will be the corporate wing.’’