Management and Governance matters: Status of the SEA Regional Office Building

Abstract

Regular updates on the status of the new WHO South-East Asia Regional Office Building at Indraprastha Estate in New Delhi, India, have been presented to the Regional Committee since its Sixty-eighth session in Dili, Timor-Leste, September 2015.Following Decision SEA/RC70(‎2)‎ of the Seventieth session of the Regional Committee in Maldives in September 2017, the Regional Committee decided to redevelop the whole campusas the best means to manage the ramified structural issues involved.Having secured excellent cooperation from and substantive contributions extended by the host country to finance and manage the demolition and reconstruction of a new building at the site, the Regional Office relocated to two temporary swing spaces in central Delhi from 14 May 2018 ina smoothly executed transition. The old Regional Office Building was evacuated in July 2018.This Working Paper provides updates on progress made since the last Regional Committee with a focus on the state of the construction work of the new Regional Office, including project timelines, challenges and third-party quality assurance.The Secretariat has been working closely with the Government of India on the execution of the reconstruction project. Regular dialogue between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfareof India and the WHO South-East Asia Region towards a successful completion of the project within the agreed timelines is ongoing.As per contractual timelines with the general contractor, the overall project deadline for completion of all building activities has been extended from the initial targeted completion dateof July 2023 to March 2024. However, this timeline has not yet been evaluated following thelargescale flooding of the site and adjoining areas in July 2023 and its consequent impact on theprogress of work.This Working Paper was presented to the High-Level Preparatory Meeting for its reviewand recommendations. The HLP Meeting reviewed the paper and made the followingrecommendation for consideration by the Seventy-sixth Session of the Regional Committee:Action by WHO(‎1)‎ Provide the latest updates on the SE Asia Regional Office Building reconstruction project to the Seventy-sixth Session of the Regional Committee in October 2023.This Working Paper and the HLP Meeting recommendation are submitted to the Seventy-sixth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia for its consideration.