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The Delhi Secretariat is the official headquarters of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. At present, the complex is located in the IP Estate in ITO, and is also called the ‘Players Building’ — it was constructed to accommodate players during the 1982 Asian Games. The building was found to be “seismic unsafe” in 2023 in a study conducted by the Public Works Department (PWD).

Last August, after a visit to the office of Department of Women and Child Development at Kashmere Gate, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had announced, “Time has come for Delhi to have a new, organised, and integrated secretariat for all departments. We will take steps in this direction starting today. A suitable location will be identified where the new Delhi Secretariat can be established, enabling all departments to function under one roof. We cannot leave our officials to work in such miserable conditions any longer.”

On Friday, PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said that the department has started preliminary work on the project and soon a global tender will be floated to appoint an architect to design the project and company for preparing a detailed project report (DPR).

Singh said tenders will be floated in a month’s time and once the process is completed, the proposal will be moved for approval from the Finance department’s Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and the Cabinet.

The project will involve demolishing the PWD headquarters, the GST building and Vikas Bhawan on the opposite side of Vikas Marg to house all government departments, along with the offices of the Chief Minister, ministers, bureaucrats and other employees.

The Minister said, “We looked at several locations and vacant plots available with the government but it has been decided to go with the ITO location only as it is centrally located and accessible to everyone. The buildings like Vikas Bhawan are very old and require redevelopment. If the twin tower is constructed, all the departments and staff will function from one place…Since it is a big project, a global tender will be floated inviting bids from across the world.”

Earlier, the government had shortlisted about four locations during its search for a suitable location to build a new secretariat—Rajghat Power Plant, Khyber Pass, ITO MSO building, and Indraprastha Estate.

Under the proposed plan, PWD, the executing agency, is planning to construct a twin tower at ITO at Vikas Marg and connect the office complex at Vikas Bhawan on the other side via a long corridor, said officials.

The PWD headquarters had earlier housed Delhi Police departments too. Now, only some units of Delhi Police are functioning from the site.

Vikas Bhawan has offices of multiple departments, including the Excise department, Public Accounts Office and the Public Grievance Redressal Office, said officials.

This project, however, is not new. It was proposed during the AAP government back in 2021 when former deputy CM Manish Sisodia held the portfolio of PWD. Tenders were also floated to appoint consultants, which prepared architectural samples but the project remained on paper.

Officials said that the new complex will have improved facilities for parking, seminar and conference rooms, and several auditoriums.