The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) today convened the inaugural meeting of the newly constituted National Council for Public Works (NCPW) at Sankalp Bhawan, New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, who also serves as the Chairman to the Council. The National Council for Public Works, with the patrons as: Hon’ble Minister of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, has been established as a national-level institutional platform to strengthen coordination, promote innovation, encourage standardisation and enhance capacity building across India’s public works and infrastructure ecosystem. The Council brings together stakeholders from Central and State Governments, Urban Local Bodies, Public Sector Undertakings, academic institutions, research organisations, construction industry, consultants, and domain experts. The inaugural meeting witnessed participation, both physical and virtual, from senior officers and representatives of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Central Public Works Department, State Public Works Departments, Urban Development Departments, Urban Local Bodies, Metro Rail Corporations and other organisations. Welcoming the participants, Joint Secretary (Central Vista & Works), MoHUA highlighted the importance of creating a dedicated national platform for convergence of ideas, technical collaboration, institutional coordination, and knowledge sharing for various stakeholders in the public works sector. In his keynote address, Secretary, MoHUA underlined that the increasing scale and complexity of infrastructure development in India require a unified institutional mechanism for collaborative engagement, adoption of emerging technologies, sustainable construction practices, policy harmonisation, and enhanced inter-agency coordination. He stated that NCPW has been conceived as a platform for constructive synthesis of ideas and collective institutional advancement in the field of public works. It was highlighted that through convergence, innovation, standardisation, capacity building, sustainability and collaboration, the Council aims to support India’s long-term economic growth and urban transformation to contribute significantly to the overall vision of Viksit Bharat – 2047 . The Secretary further noted that the Council would function under the aegis of MoHUA, with CPWD acting as the coordinating agency.
He also informed that the Council would support integrated and future-oriented approaches for infrastructure planning, resource optimisation, and long-term urban and regional development. A detailed presentation on the objectives, institutional framework, governance structure, and operational modalities of the Council was made during the meeting. The presentation highlighted the proposed thematic working groups on areas such as technology & innovation, sustainability & green construction, contract management & dispute resolution, training & capacity building, research & standards development, project planning, asset management, and management of large public events. The headquarters of the National Council for Public Works will be established at the National CPWD Academy, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, while its Delhi office will function from India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. To strengthen Centre-State partnership, a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) framework will be signed with the State Governments, under which States will nominate representatives to the Council. Director General, CPWD invited suggestions and comments from the representatives of various State Governments, research institutions, public sector organisations, and technical bodies who welcomed the initiative and expressed their willingness to actively contribute to the activities of the Council. Suggestions were received on areas including adoption of advanced construction technologies, green infrastructure, construction waste recycling, dispute resolution mechanisms, standardisation of practices, strengthening research collaboration, supply chain resilience, public health engineering and professional capacity building. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Deputy Director General, NTIPR, CPWD.