New Secretariat to cost around Rs.1,000 Cr

Hyderabad : Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao's ambitious plan of shifting Secretariat, the seat of highest administration of the State, to the Chest Hospital premises at Erragadda is expected to cost not less than Rs 1,000 crore to the State exchequer.

The Chief Minister is understood to have taken the decision for administrative convenience, as there are several advantages in having an integrated official complex within the same premises.

The proposed location of new Secretariat at Erragadda has a vast area of over 60 acres, more than double the present Secretariat premises and it can easily accommodate more than 30 buildings.

Moreover, the vast area would provide a lot of lung space for the employees to work in a pleasant atmosphere. Besides, there would be huge space for parking and spacious offices for the heads of the department.

'At present, various State-level offices are scattered in different parts of the city and if all of them are brought into the same campus, there would be better coordination between the Secretaries and Ministers on one side and the Directors and Commissioners on the other.

Advantages
-All offices at one place would help having better coordination.
-Safety and security issues can be addressed effectively.
-Better parking facilities for ministers, officials and visitors.
-One stop shop for common people who can avoid running from pillar to post
-Offices could get more space and modern facilities.
-Massive lung space for employees and visitors

Disadvantages
-It involves massive expenditure of over Rs 1,000 crore
-Construction of several buildings in one complex will lead to heavy pollution
-Locating scores of offices at one place would put immense pressure on traffic
-Employees in eastern and southern parts of the city would face severe traffic problems.
-Rental rates of surrounding areas of Erragadda might skyrocket.

Officials of the various departments can do away with travelling from their offices to Secretariat every day. For common people, too, it would be convenient to have the ministries and departments within the same premises,' an official observed.

According to sources, the government is likely to rope in Mumbai-based renowned architect Hafiz Contractor to design the new Secretariat project. The design part itself would take at least one year as the present structures have to be demolished after the shifting of the Chest hospital.

However, shifting of Secretariat and other departments to Erragadda is not so easy, as it not only involves huge expenditure but also massive logistic problems. According to an estimate, the new premises need at least 20 buildings with a total area of not less than 50 lakh square feet to accommodate all the offices of the heads of the departments, secretaries and directors.

At a conservative estimate of Rs 2,000 per square feet towards the cost of construction, it would require not less than Rs 1,000 crore to build a new Secretariat and official building complex with international standards.

It would take at least three to four years for the entire project to materialize and if one were to take into consideration the cost escalation during this period and other facilities to be provided in the new complex, the project cost might shoot up even up to Rs 2,000 crore. Going by the directions of the Chief Minister, all the directorates, except the offices of DGP, agriculture and horticulture departments, would move into the new premises at Erragadda.

It means the Directorates and Commissionerates at Erramanzil, Sultan Bazar, Masab Tank, Nampally, Abids Road, Boggulakunta, Gandhi Bhavan Road and other locations would move into the new premises at Erragadda.

However, it is not clear as to what would be the fate of the Secretariat blocks allotted to Andhra Pradesh government as per the AP Reorganisation Act.

Irrespective of whether its government offices are shifted to new capital region at Tullur as per the directions of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the AP government will continue to have control over the allotted buildings in Secretariat for 10 years.

So, it might not be so easy for the TRS government to get the AP government offices in Secretariat vacated. Those who are opposing the shifting of Secretariat point out that the decision would put employees to a lot of inconvenience, as majority of them have been residing in eastern and southern parts of the city and they would have to travel at least seven to eight kilometres more to reach Erragadda.

As many as 30,000 government employees are working in Secretariat and the directorates and even if half them throng the roads to reach Erragadda in the morning hours, the traffic would be thrown out of gear. For political leaders, too, the present Secretariat location is largely convenient as it is closer to the Assembly as well as Raj Bhavan, Dilkusha Guest House and Lake View Guest House.