Delhi's tallest building, the 28-storeyed 112-metre MCD Civic Centre was inaugurated on Thursday by Home Minister P Chidambaram, in the presence of BJP leader L K Advani, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and other leaders.
Inaugurating the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre, Chidambaram vowed to make Delhi a world-class city and appealed to the civic administration to improve all the basic services like communication, education and health. "This civic centre has been long overdue and we are truly proud of this magnificent building that will be a landmark in many many years to come," he said.
"We all will have to work together to make Delhi a world class city and I appeal to the civic administration to give touch of quality in every aspect like road, school, hospital. We should never compromise on quality," he said. The landmark building has been constructed at a cost of Rs 650 crore.
Former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia were among others present at the ceremony.
The building will bring under one roof the deliberative wing and different offices of the civic body, which looks after 96 per cent of areas of Delhi. However, its construction had been hit by delays with the MCD missing several deadlines for shifting its offices.
The new headquarters of MCD has been constructed in an area of 1,16,750 square metres with a concept of 'Green Building', which is designed for optimum utilisation of natural resources like air, water and sunlight.
The installed system caters to the best engineering practices in energy and natural resources conservation measures. The building is provided with rain water harvesting, energy efficient lighting and day light sensor systems. Water conservation will be ascertained through flow sensors and self-closing taps, officials said.
Some work at the building is still to be completed. It is being done in phases and the civic body can shift some offices even as work is on, officials said.
Spread over an area of 12 acres, the headquarters of the civic body has four six-storey blocks, one 28-storey tower block in addition to services block, water treatment plant and sewage treatment plant.
Expected to cater to 16,000 people per day, it will also have waiting areas, fountains, an open-air theatre, three halls for holding MCD House and Standing Committee meetings as well as a separate media centre.
The Civic Centre has an auditorium with capacity of 1,000 seats beside an art gallery and a restaurant. It will have a 33KV sub-station for dedicated and interrupted power supply. PTI
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