Archinect - News

A ‘ham-fisted ego trip’: Rowan Moore delves into Modi's divisive Central Vista project

2023-04-06T11:02:00-04:00

It is the centrepiece of the Central Vista Project, an ambitious plan to make over the city’s British-built administrative centre. Critics of the new building say that it is an unnecessary replacement of the existing parliament, that short cuts were taken with its procurement and the obtaining of permissions, and that there was minimal consultation with parliamentarians and the public.

The Prime Minister’s Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained the US$150M project is a “necessity” and expects its inauguration to take place soon after previously redying for a debut by the end of October.

Modi appeared encouraged on a “surprise” hour-long site visit last Thursday. The more modernized four-story facility will offer 40 square meters of office space to each of India’s 545 parliament members in addition to holding a lounge, dining areas, library, 5,000-piece art collection, and constitution hall meant to honor its now 75 years of independence.

Foster + Partners sues in India for missed payments related to the scrapped Amaravati master plan

2022-08-18T17:29:00-04:00

A row between an Indian government contractor and Foster + Partners over supposedly unpaid design fees related to the abandoned Amaravati master plan has reached the country’s Supreme Court after the London-based studio entered a lawsuit there last week.

The UK Architects’ Journal is reporting that the suit was brought against the state-run Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority (AMRDA) over their repeated inability to respond to payment requests from Foster + Partners that date to 2019.

Foster + Partners had worked alongside AMRDA for a period of several years to develop an administrative city for the state of Andhra Pradesh that included a new legislative building, judicial facilities, and a complex of office buildings at a reported price of £500 million ($600 million USD).

Previously on Archinect: Foster + Partners develop a master plan for Amaravati, the new capital of Indian state Andhra Pradesh

The effort was called off in 2019 (shortly before Prime Minister Naren...

India will complete the world's tallest railway bridge in Kashmir by 2023

2022-03-22T11:39:00-04:00

An engineering marvel in the making, the world’s tallest railway bridge being constructed over Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district is likely to come up by December next year This railway bridge is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar- Baramulla Rail Link Project, which is the most challenging project being undertaken post-independence by Indian Railways.

The viral bridge is slightly higher up than the Najiehe Railway Bridge in China, which stands a total of 305 meters (about 1000 feet) in height. Fears by some about a potential terrorist attack had to be engineered into the span with blast-proof steel and other military-grade components owing to its connection with the volatile Kashmir region, which lost its special administrative status by order of parliament in August 2019.

India is hoping the bridge project, one of several that connects the capital region of Delhi to the strategically important city of Srinagar, will feature into its newfound push to kickstart the country’s economy through infrastructure enhancements. Last year, Prime Minister Modi unveiled a plan that would pay for such upgrades through a tax on cryptocurrencies in order to herald a 25-year period of prosperity the leader calls “Amrit Kaal.”

India is taxing cryptocurrencies to finance its push for new infrastructure

2022-02-01T19:12:00-05:00

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has included hefty spending on infrastructure projects in its annual budget, looking to spur growth and improve its popularity just ahead of key state elections. The budget also includes a proposed 30% tax on income from cryptocurrencies.

India also introduced a new digital rupee (after previously attempting a ban on cryptocurrencies) and plans to declare data centers and large energy storage systems as infrastructure in an effort to increase access to institutional funding. Hopes are that the investment in building projects will create employment opportunities which will thus pour money back into the economy. Current forecasts have India’s GDP growing at an 8% rate for the fiscal year.

The country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the package includes $2.68 billion in allocations for highway expansions and funding for 400 new trains that will be manufactured in the next three years. The money constitutes a major shift as about $4 billion less is being spent on healthcare delivery than was included in last year’s budget. Prime Minister Modi has said very publicly that he feels it is his responsibility to make infrastructure development a top priority for the world’s second-most populous country.

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India's controversial parliament redesign draws increased criticism as country battles new Covid wave

2021-04-27T13:36:00-04:00

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rebuilding part of New Delhi, but the mammoth undertaking is drawing fire [...] The massive project — which local media have estimated could cost about 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) — has grown more controversial as India’s coronavirus cases have exploded. On social media, some questioned the need for spending on new government structures at a time when the nation is dealing with severe fallouts from the pandemic.

As India struggles to contain a new devastating wave of Covid-19 outbreaks throughout the country, opposition is further growing to Prime Minister Modi's controversial redesign plan of the historic Central Vista in the capital Delhi which will include a new parliament building and several government offices. The criticism centers around the project's lack of public consultation and transparency as well as its enormous price tag at a time when the country is facing economic challenges due to the ongoing pandemic.

The undertaking officially launched in December 2020 but was briefly halted (and subsequently approved) by India's Supreme Court shortly after.

Indian firm HCP Design, Planning and Management Ltd. is in charge of the Central Vista urban master plan and architectural design of the parliament building.

India's controversial new parliament building approved by highest court

2021-01-05T14:40:00-05:00

India’s supreme court has given approval for a new parliament building that critics have called an “expensive vanity project” for the prime minister, Narendra Modi. [...] Since the project was announced, it has faced criticism from civil society groups, environmentalists and politicians about its lack of transparency and public consultation and high cost in a time of economic crisis.

The $3 billion parliament plan, a pet project of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reshape the country's capital, was officially launched last December with the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone but immediately halted again by India's Supreme Court due to legal challenges over environmental and land use violations.

The Delhi central vista project has received sharp criticism, mainly over its lack of transparency and financial burden on India's Covid-stricken economy.

Narendra Modi launches controversial effort to redesign India's parliament complex

2020-12-14T15:23:00-05:00

Despite widespread opposition, the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has begun a £2bn overhaul of Delhi's grand complex of government buildings in a bid to sever the nation from its colonial past. At a ceremony held last week, Modi laid the foundation stone for a new building to replace Parliament House, designed by English architects Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, which upon its completion in 1927 became the seat of power for British-ruled India.

The ambitious plan by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to overhaul the sprawling complex of historic, colonial-era government buildings in Delhi is off to a rocky start: despite ceremonially laying the foundation stone for a new parliament building on December 10, further spending on the project was blocked by India's Supreme Court within the same week.

Since its official reveal in May, Modi's plan to have the heritage-listed central vista redesigned by architect Bimal Patel has been sharply criticized as an "expensive vanity project," including by Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor. In his Guardian Op-Ed, he writes: "Architecture is an effective propagandist tool. [...] This is not the redesign of buildings, it is instead Modi’s way of placing himself at the centre and cementing his legacy as the maker of a new Hindu India."

The new parliament building is expected to be ready for India's 75th anniversary of independence in 2022.