Delhi plans Rs 225 crore Town Hall revamp to boost Chandni Chowk tourism

The Detailed Project Report is being prepared under Swadesh Darshan 2.0 to comprehensively redevelop the historic site, promoting heritage tourism, cultural engagement and vibrant community spaces for visitors.

In Short

• Complex to span Town Hall, Press Building, Park across 12,180 square metres
• Plans include immersive museum, galleries, heritage stays, markets, amphitheatre
• Grade-I complex aims to boost tourism, culture, community engagement

A major redevelopment proposal has been initiated for the Town Hall complex in Delhi's Chandni Chowk, with an estimated cost of Rs 225 crore, officials said on Wednesday. An MoU for the project was signed between the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at the Delhi Secretariat on Sunday.

The Detailed Project Report is being prepared under the Centre's Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme. Officials said the project is aimed at giving the historic site a comprehensive makeover to boost heritage tourism, cultural engagement and community spaces.

It covers the Town Hall, Press Building and Park spread across around 12,180 square metres in the Chandni Chowk and Shahjahanabad areas.

Built between 1860 and 1866, the complex served as the civic body's headquarters for a long period before operations shifted to the Dr SP Mukherjee Civic Centre in 2010. Since then, a large part of the complex has remained largely vacant.

The building is classified as Grade-I. Officials said the redevelopment plan includes cultural, modern and recreational features such as an immersive museum, themed galleries on different periods of Delhi's history, temporary art galleries, and spaces for seasonal exhibitions.

The plan also includes hospitality and retail elements, with provision for heritage stays and dedicated areas for flea markets. For recreation and events, it proposes a plug-and-play open amphitheatre for live performances and cultural programmes, along with an integrated sports arena in the central courtyard.

Officials said the revamp is intended to preserve the architectural legacy of Town Hall while turning it into a hub for residents and international tourists. The project may later be developed through public investment or under the public-private partnership model.

According to officials, the MoU is meant to facilitate statutory approvals and oversee implementation. A Joint Working Group with representatives from the DTTDC and MCD will regularly review progress.

The initial term of the MoU is 30 years and can be extended by another 30 years with mutual consent. The classification of heritage structures in Delhi into categories such as Grade-I is governed by the Heritage Conservation Committee in coordination with local civic bodies under the Unified Building Bye-Laws for Delhi.

The Town Hall building has seen at least five redevelopment or restoration proposals since it fell vacant in 2011-12, and none has been completed.

In 2010, before the civic body shifted out, there was a proposal to turn it into a heritage hotel with a museum, which was formally revived in 2018 by the erstwhile North Delhi Municipal Corporation, but it did not go ahead.

Around 2014, a Centre-funded restoration backed by the Union Tourism Ministry was proposed, but that also did not materialise, prompting the civic body to explore the PPP route and begin work on a request for proposal.

The central government had also shown interest in taking the site on lease for a museum, library and recreation centre, but that plan stalled as well.

In late 2023, the MCD made another push to convert the complex into a civic or municipal history museum, and by April 2024 MoUs had been signed with the Aga Khan Trust for structural restoration and with IGNCA for conserving artefacts and setting up the museum, with experts from the state archaeology department and the ASI inspecting the site in 2024, but that plan too did not materialise.

The latest proposal is now aimed at redeveloping the vacant heritage complex while preserving its historic character.

- Ends
With PTI inputs