The Delhi Development Authority ( DDA ) on Wednesday approved the Master Plan for Delhi-2047 (MPD-2047), which relaxes protections for one chunk of the Yamuna floodplain, allows commercial construction in 70 villages on the edges of the Capital and permits reconstruction and redevelopment of old two-storey DDA units.
Key Statements
The plan, which sets out a long-term framework for the Capital’s housing, mobility, infrastructure, environment and economic development will now be sent to the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) for final approval and subsequent notification.
Old DDA homes to get redevelopment rights
The decision was taken at a DDA meeting chaired by lieutenant governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and attended by vice-chairman N Saravana Kumar and other members of the authority. For these areas, minimum 12m, 18m and 30m roads are being considered. Under the new policy, such units will receive redevelopment rights on par with vacant residential plots.
DDA also approved the policy allowing reconstruction and redevelopment of old DDA-built two-storey dwelling units, amendments to the 2016 Unified Building Bye-Laws (UBBL), which seek to simplify the building plan approval process and reduce procedural requirements, as well as a change in land use for a metro depot for the Rithala-Kundli corridor in Narela . MPD 2047 divides it into O-1 and O-2, HT has learnt. or the manner in which the banks are proposed to be defined based on the probability of floods once in 25 years — O-2, the area outside this zone, will allow specified recreational activities, including parks and green spaces, subject to regulations, an official aware of the matter said While no construction or development will be permitted in O-1 — which falls within the defined 1-in-25-year floodplain. Now, the new plan has paved the way for commercial development in all 70 villages along the periphery of Delhi with Gurugram and Noida-like vertical development, allowing higher Floor Area Ratio (FAR), said an official aware of the matter. Several housing schemes developed under MPD-1962 have two-storey built-up units on individual plots that are more than five decades old and have become structurally deficient, according to DDA.
“With Delhi’s population projected to grow significantly by 2047, the Master Plan adopts an integrated approach towards housing, economic growth, mobility, environmental sustainability, infrastructure, heritage conservation, urban regeneration and citizen-centric governance,” DDA said. A senior DDA official said, “The policy will encourage green development and will ensure seamless development of infrastructure and road network within and around GDA. “This is part of the government’s broader deregulation exercise and is aimed at reducing compliance burden and facilitating faster approvals,” a DDA official said.
The most significant change proposed by the agency was to the definition of the 22km-long Yamuna floodplain, earlier treated as a single protected O zone where development was largely restricted.
