India / PM Modi inaugurates Defence Office Complexes in Delhi, will house 7,000 officials

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated defence office complexes at New Delhi's Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Africa Avenue, in the presence of Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Hardeep Singh Puri and Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.

The three service chiefs — Army Chief General MM Manoj Mukund Naravane, IAF Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria and Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh were also present at the ceremony.

The new defence office complexes will accommodate around 7,000 officials from the ministry of defence and the Armed Forces, including the Army, Navy and Air Force. 

Following the inauguration of the complexes, Modi said the new office complexes would help the defence personnel work in better conditions. 

“Today Delhi is progressing in line with 'New India' vision. These new defence office complexes will now make it feasible for our armies to operate in better working conditions with all modern amenities,” Modi said.

The buildings will provide modern, secure and functional working spaces. “An Integrated Command and Control Centre has been established for managing building operations, while also catering to the end-to-end safety and surveillance of both the buildings,” the government said in a statement.

Until now, the defence ministry officers and staff were from decades-old, pre-Independence era hutments in the vicinity of the North and South Blocks. 

The relocation of the existing 27 defence offices to the swanky complexes at Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Africa Avenue would also pave the way for the revamp of the Central Vista.

Officials familiar with the developments said the shifting of the defence establishments would happen in phases over the next two months.

The new defence office complexes are state-of-the-art and energy-efficient, with comprehensive security management measures. 

One of the defining features of these buildings is the use of new and sustainable construction technology called LGSF (light gauge steel frame), which reduced construction time from 24 to 30 months in the case of conventional reinforced cement concrete (RCC) construction. The buildings utilise resource-efficient green technology and promote environment-friendly practices, the government said.

Constructed by the Union ministry of housing and urban development for ₹775 crore, the new defence office complexes — an eight-storey building at Kasturba Gandhi Marg and a seven-storey complex at Africa Avenue — spread across 9.6 lakh square feet area were completed within a record 12 months. The two complexes together can accommodate 1,500 cars at multi-level parking lots. 

Earlier this week, Hindustan Times reported quoting defence officials that the shifting of old offices will free 50 acres of land for the ₹20,000-crore Central Vista development project. "The defence ministry will vacate 9.2 lakh square feet of space in these hutments and take up 9.6 lakh square feet in two new multi-storeyed complexes that are spread over a total area of 13 acres,” an official said.

The vacated near the South Block will be used to develop the ‘Executive Enclave’ of the Central Vista Project, which, besides housing the Prime Minister and the PMO, will also have the office of the Cabinet Secretariat, officials of the housing and urban development said.