Delhi Master Plan: Urban areas to break free from old mould

NEW DELHI: Parts of Delhi may see faster growth if the draft MPD 2041 projections come to fruition. Many areas in Delhi developed in 1940-1970 have old-built stock, and MPD41 outlines a policy to regenerate the dilapidated areas by incentivising residential development through the amalgamation of plots, additional floor area ratio and other incentives.
The draft states that in planned residential areas, the regeneration will be primarily led by the private sector through plot amalgamation and FAR incentives and group housing given preference. The draft also talks about redevelopment of unauthorised colonies, urban villages, the Walled City, JJ clusters and unplanned industrial hubs.
The urban regeneration policy, regulations for which will be prepared by DDA within six months of the notification of MPD41, will apply to all existing developed areas except restricted areas like Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone, land-pooling areas and green development areas.
Three proposals have been made for reconstruction at the plot-level. Very small sized plots will be allowed to amalgamate to a maximum combined area of 64 sq metres. In the mixed land use/commercial streets category, linear amalgamation of plots along the street length will be permitted provided that individual plots are at least 500 sq m. In such a case, continuous frontage will have to be maintained along the street and parking requirements will have to be accommodated within the plot. For much larger areas of a minimum of 3,000 sq m, DDA will prepare specific regeneration schemes.
While the draft MPD41 talks about redevelopment of Shahjahanabad, MPD21 also had provisions for rejuvenating the Walled City and special areas, but these never materialised.
Several policy formulations and projects for redeveloping unplanned areas like unauthorised colonies and in-situ slum redevelopment are already under various stages of approval. MPD-2041 attempts to build on these efforts. For unauthorised colonies, four categories of regeneration schemes have been proposed for consolidated areas measuring 2,000-3,000 sq m, 3,000-5 000 sq m, 5,000-10,000 sq m and above 10,000 sq m.
The draft MPD2041 has also directed DDA to come up with specific regulations for development and regeneration of urban villages within two years of notification. Urban villages, or lal dora abadis, have emerged as islands of unplanned growth in the city and are major hubs of rental housing. “Many of the urban villages are also of heritage importance and will need a mix of regeneration and conservation strategies,” the plan states.