King's Park Street West Delhi gets its first cultural hub, under a flyover

RAJA GARDEN, India - April 17, 2015 - PRLog -- If this experiment becomes successful, it may be a lesson or two to other cities on effective utilisation of spaces under flyovers.

King’s Park Street —- a 3.5-acre cultural facility under the Rajouri Garden flyover — is finally up and running. On March 21, coinciding with the Navratri, the cultural hub came alive with about 15 food stalls, serving the choicest street food in the country.

In fact, King’s Park Street had a soft launch in March 2014, with an art exhibition and book stalls, for about a week. But it had some teething troubles and the area was closed for renovation. Even now, just half of the area is fit for use — this includes the amphitheatre, car parking, food court and exhibition space. Once the entire space is ready, there will be adventure activities, two multi-cuisine fine-dining restaurants and a banquet hall to host corporate events and private parties. There is also a plan to offer the space for reality show shoots.

“One of the main objectives of King’s Park Street is to generate interest in traditional art forms in the West Delhi area, which has been devoid of cultural activities till now. It will also offer a platform to local artistes and artisans to showcase their talent through performances and exhibits. Besides, there is always shopping and food,” Ravi Dhdhich, General Manager, Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC), said.

Amit Sukhija, Director (Projects) King’s Park Street, said, “The concept of utilising the space under a flyover has existed in the West for a long time. While there is a practice in the US and China to use such spaces to set up markets, the trend in Europe is to give it the shape of an art gallery-cum-workshop.”

“We don’t have any such an existing model in India. So we have tried to create a space for multiple activities in terms of arts, food and shopping. It will gradually evolve and finds its focus,” he said.

The project was conceptualised in 2003, after the flyover was inaugurated by the then chief minister Sheila Dikshit, but nothing moved for 10 years. It was only in 2013 that tenders were floated by DTTDC to transform the waste space into a cultural hub, replete with murals, kiosks, an amphitheatre and food counters.

Sarvam Hospitality World, which runs a couple of banquet halls and restaurants in South and Central Delhi, has developed King’s Park Street in a span of one year at a cost of Rs 3 crore, as a PPP project along with DTTDC.