NEW DELHI: Building of fancy duplex flats to house Members of Parliament at North and South Avenue in the national capital seems stuck for now with the building agency Central Public Works Department (CPWD) failing to submit environment compliance report to environment ministry despite repeated reminders.
The project for redeveloping of Housing of the North and South Avenue came up for consideration before Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC Infra-2) of the ministry during its meeting May 29-30 and the proposal was deferred till the desired information is submitted by the CPWD.
"The committee was informed that this is an expansion project and requires Certified Compliance Report (existing project) for appraisal. The project proponent has not submitted the same with the application," said a senior ministry official.
However, on request of the project proponent and assurance given by them to submit the compliance on the day of EAC meeting, proposal was taken up in the meeting. "At the time of meeting, the project proponent failed to submit the same for the conditions stipulated in the earlier environmental clearance letter issued to the project. The proposal was, therefore, deferred till the desired information is submitted," the official said.
The EAC decided not to take the proposal forward till the report issued by the MoEF&CC, Regional Office or concerned Regional Office of Central Pollution Control Board or the Member Secretary of the respective State Pollution Control Board is submitted by the Project Proponent.
As per the proposal, the new building complex will be redeveloped after demolishing the old structures and a total of 144 and 120 new duplex type flats will be constructed in the North and South Avenues respectively. The existing construction is over 60 years old and did not have enough space for office and attendant quarters. The foundation was laid in April 2017.
The CPWD had earlier said that all clearances have been received for the project to start. In the first phase, 36 new flats were planned to be constructed in North Avenue and the estimated cost for this phase is Rs 92.25 crore with an estimated time frame of 2.5 years.