Andaman Public Works Department is the prime construction organization of the Andaman & Nicobar Administration. The department was set up in 1957 with a Single Division level establishment. Shri N.N. Iyengar, Principal Engineer started functioning as Head of Department from 01/07/1959. Since then the Department has brought sea changes in the construction activities in the Islands. The department has been mainly entrusted with the work of providing Infrastructural support for the people of the Islands, other departments functioning under the A & N Administration as well as the departments functioning under Ministries and autonomous bodies. The department serves the people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands by providing drinking water supply, roads and bridges, housing etc. The APWD undertakes the construction and maintenance of residential and office accommodation for various departments under Andaman and Nicobar Administration as well as the buildings for Hospitals, Health Centers, Schools, Colleges, Libraries & Stadiums etc.

In the past 64 years of its existence, the department through the sheer acumen of the Engineers, Architects & Town Planner has successfully completed a large number of construction projects surpassing difficulties encountered on account of scarcity of materials and man power by skillful management in execution of the works by implementing development schemes during the various Five Year Plans. During the passage of time, it has made strides in the technical, methodological and material use in construction activities. The works in initial stages were carried out primarily for the people in South Andaman & the Nicobar Islands. The South Andaman was basically inhabitated by the convicts of British Era, who were freedom fighters and forced to settle here.

Later, some settlements were established in various Islands of Andaman & Nicobar by the Govt. of India for immigrants from the erstwhile East Pakistan in 1965 and from Bangladesh during 1972. Thereupon, A & N Administration furthered the activities of the department in Middle Andaman, North Andaman, Little Andaman and other smaller Islands to cater to the infrastructural needs of the settlements.

Old buildings viz. Cellular jail, Raj Niwas, Commissioner s Bunglow, few other Bunglows (presently residence of Chief Secretary, IGP, etc.) have been maintained by carrying out necessary repairs and renovations from time to time. Historical structures at Ross Island, the then Head Quarters of British Raj in the Island, got practically destroyed during the earthquake of 1942 with a Magnitude of 8.2 on Richter scale and hence were abandoned. All the Brick structures except the Cellular Jail were severely or moderately damaged. Some of the damaged structures have been retrofitted and refurbished by APWD in order to maintain their original character.

The PWD activities in this territory are spread over many Islands and apart from man power were dependent on two essential factors namely transport and materials. The position of all three factors were always short of requirement at any point of time. The Long monsoon in Andamans usually leave a short working season of 4 to 5 months in a year and is thus a great implement to construction works.

Andaman Public Works Departments expanded from one division which existed up to 1957 into a full fledge circle with four divisions. In order to deal with the increased volume of work in the third five year plan; two more division namely North Andaman construction division and Marine works division were opened during the year 1961 with headquarters at Mayabunder and Car Nicobar respectively. In all the following six division were in function under one Principal Engineer.

During 1979, one more circle named as Construction Circle No- I was opened with a Superintending Engineer heading it. With passage of time, the post of Chief Engineer was created during 1988 and Chief Engineer became the Head of Department. Further due to increase in volume of work, another circle was created namely Construction Circle No. II with head quarter at Rangat with a Superintending Engineer heading it. After the earthquake followed by Tsunami on 26/12/2004, the Construction Circle II was transferred to Car Nicobar. Presently APWD is headed by a Chief Engineer having three Circles (each headed by a Superintending Engineer) and a planning unit headed by a Superintending Engineer. A Architect Unit is functioning under a Senior Architect. There are 18 working divisions under APWD.

Today APWD is a 64 years old institution and is the Islands oldest Premier Engineering Organization responsible for creating infrastructure and providing comprehensive services including planning, designing, construction and maintenance of office and residential buildings of various departments under A&N Administration, Roads and Water Supply. Its activities are spread throughout length and breadth of the Islands.

Sl. No	Name	From	To
1.	SHRI N.N.IYENGAR	01/07/1959	06/01/1961
2.	SHRI S. N. GUPTA	06/01/1961	01/10/1964
3.	SHRI N.D. RAJAN	01/10/1964	13/05/1968
4.	SHRI J.K. VARSHANEYA	13/05/1968	26/08/1968
5.	SHRI B. RAGHUPATHY	09/09/1968	22/11/1971
6.	SHRI A.K. SINGHAL	22/11/1971	07/07/1975
7.	SHRI B.A. SATYANARAYANA	07/07/1975	15/06/1978
8.	SHRI S. GANESAN	15/06/1978	24/09/1979
9.	SHRI S.K. LAUL	24/09/1979	15/07/1982
10	SHRI S. GANESAN	15/07/1982	17/07/1985
11.	SHRI S.L. KARUNAKARAN	17/07/1985	21/08/1988

12.	SHRI S.L. KARUNAKARAN	21/08/1988	31/12/1988
13.	SHRI S. GANESAN	31/12/1988	23/02/1993
14.	SHRI S.P. LALLA	23/02/1993	07/10/1996
15.	SHRI HAYAT SINGH (i/c)	07/10/1996	30/04/1997
16.	SHRI R.K. SINGH (i/c)	30/04/1997	05/08/1997
17.	SHRI H.S. DOGRA	05/08/1997	02/08/2000
18.	SHRI R.K. SINGH (i/c)	02/08/2000	07/06/2001
19.	SHRI NARENDER  KUMAR (i/c)	07/06/2001	05/02/2003
20	SHRI P.K. MAJUMDAR	05/02/2003	17/12/2003
21.	SHRI G.C. KHATTAR	17/12/2003	04/08/2006
22.	DR .N. RAVI	04/08/2006	21/05/2008
23.	Er. R.K. GHOSH	21/05/2008	01/09/2010
24.	DR. SATISH K. SHARMA	01/09/2010	31/01/2012
25.	Er. P.K. SINGH	31/01/2012	30/06/2015
26.	Er. Vimal Sinha	02/07/2015	31/08/2015
27.	Er. Mathura Prasad	12/11/2015	10/04/2017
28.	Er. D. Balaji (I/C)	11/04/2017	28/12/2017
29.	Brig. Amit Kathpalia	29/12/2017	04/01/2019
30.	Er. D. Balaji (I/C)	05/01/2019	30/11/2020
31.	Er. M.Sivarama Subramanian (I/C)	22/12/2020	31/05/2023
31.	Er. S.Thej Bahadur(I/C)	26/06/2023	30/06/2024
31.	Er. T.K.Prijith Rekh	01/07/2024	Till date