MEA officials set to get suitable residences in New Delhi

New Delhi: Come June 2023, officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will have 97 state-of-the-art newly constructed flats with all modern amenities for themselves. These flats are going to be built in the posh Gole Market area of Central Delhi at a cost of Rs 88 crore.

The tender for the same, which was floated on 30 April, will be opened on 1 June and the winning company will have to build these flats within a stipulated time of 24 months. These 97 flats will be spread across two towers of 18 floors and 20 floors, respectively, and will be built on an area of 68,000 square feet. The cost of the whole project, as of now, is Rs 87.74 crore which is likely to  increase, as is the norm in such civil contracts, once the project reaches its final stage.

The 36 flats in Tower A, which will have 18 floors with two flats per floor, will have three bedrooms, hall, kitchen, plus a servant’s room. Each floor in this tower will be built over an area of 4,300 square feet. Tower B will have 61 flats spread across 20 floors, with three flats on every floor and one flat on the ground floor. It will have two bedrooms, with each floor covering 3,600 square feet.

All these 97 flats will have a split air conditioners in each bedroom, drawing room and kitchen/dining area. Apart from having ACs in each room, these flats will have a modular cupboard in each room, a modular kitchen with a chimney and hot water in every tap.

The campus will have multiple fountains and waterbodies “to give a soothing touch and special feel to the outdoor ambience”. The waterbodies will have a “series of stepped levels and the combination of green to provide a pleasing and cheerful environment which is seen to be utmost necessary to give the occupants a healthy breath, good appearance and natural beauty”.

Multiple sculptures too will be placed across the campus to add to its beauty. The builder will also be required to build an amphitheatre on campus, apart from multiple “pergolas” (outdoor garden) and trellis (screen for climbing plants), and plant eight types of trees across the campus that include Chorisia Speciosa (silk floss tree), Delonix Regia (gulmohar), Jacaranda Mimosifolia (neeli gulmohar), Phoenix Sylvestris (palm), Plumeria Alba (champa), Phoenix roebelenii (date palm), Terminalia Mantal (Madagascar almond tree) and Tabebuia Argentea (trumpet tree), apart from eight types of shrubs and flowering plants and seven types of “covering plants”.

To ensure adequate security for the officials living on campus, all entry and exit points will be covered by boom barriers and a web of closed-circuit television system, apart from video door phone cum intercom system in each flat.

MEA deals with countries across the world, and it is important to ensure that their offices and residences match the importance of India.