The vision document will now be sent to the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) for final notification
The draft Master Plan of Delhi-2041 that seeks to re-imagine the national capital as a 24X7 city with night-circuits, provide liberal development norms for group housing societies, schools and industry and push land pooling to cater to the growing housing demand in the city. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Tuesday approved the draft Master Plan of Delhi-2041 that seeks to re-imagine the national capital as a 24X7 city with night-circuits, provide liberal development norms for group housing societies, schools and industry and push land pooling to cater to the growing housing demand in the city, officials aware of the matter said.
The vision document will now be sent to the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) for final notification. The new plan will replace the Master Plan of Delhi-2021, which came into force on February 7, 2007. The draft MPD-2041 was tabled before the authority on Tuesday after incorporating changes based on the 33,000 suggestions and objections received from the public, the officials said.
DDA placed the draft plan in the public domain in June 2021.

Senior DDA officials who attended the meeting, which was chaired by lieutenant governor VK Saxena, said there are no major changes in the final plan compared to the original one.
In a statement on Tuesday, Saxena said, “The thrust of MPD-2041, was inclusive development, environmental sustainability, green economy and infrastructure development that included sufficient housing for all sections of the society, innovative interventions such as Transit-oriented Development hubs, land pooling, green area development and rejuvenation and regeneration (developed areas) of the city.”
DDA officials said that the new Master Plan provides for policies such as Green area development which is aimed at planned development on the city periphery, and regulated growth of farmhouses.
It also aims to promote night-time economy to make the national capital a 24×7 city. Under this the plan MPD-2041 envisages 24X7 restaurants, night circuits around cultural precincts, heritage areas and business districts.

The plan incorporates the amendments proposed by the Centre last year for swift implementation of the land pooling policy, which has been hanging fire for nearly a decade now. According to the plan, land owners will now be allowed to merge their property irrespective of their plot sizes. Earlier, the policy required 70% contiguous land parcels to create a sector.
The new policy has given several concessions in terms of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to schools, guest houses, hotels and foreign missions allowing them more developed space. Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building’s total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built.

Also, to incentivise the developers involved in the construction of in-situ slum rehabilitation projects, the MPD 2041 provides for a higher FAR, DDA officials said. They added that for encouraging commercial activity in hotels, the FAR limit has also been increased.
“There are several changes in MPD-2041 as compared to MPD-2021. One of the most common demands of industry, commercial and housing sector has been to increase the Floor Area Ratio. The ground coverage and FAR has been increased for schools, guest houses, hostels, foreign missions, group housing societies, etc. Amalgamation of plot, which till now was not allowed, has been permitted irrespective of size, to push land pooling. To ensure in-situ redevelopment of slums, developers have been given higher FAR for commercial components to recover the cost of the project. These are important decisions that will play a crucial role in the city’s development,” a senior DDA official asking not to be named.

The meeting also witnessed its share of politics with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who are members of DDA, accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for politicising MPD-2041. They were referring to a letter by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti who had urged the LG to postpone the meeting.

“I fail to understand that a bulky document running in over 300 pages is expected to be read in just two days …I am more worried about this hasty act in view of the recent developments in excise policy. Though the MPD-2041 will be passed in the meeting chaired by you but just like excise policy. it is not you who will be held responsible and be targeted. But, just like Manish Sisodia, the AAP will be held responsible for its failure,” Bharti said.
Though the LG office did not comment on the letter, the BJP hit back at Bharti and said that the AAP was politicising the matter.

BJP MLA Vijender Gupta, who is a member of DDA, said, “The draft MPD-2041 was placed in the public domain in June 2021. He is just wasting time. If he was really interested, he would have read it by now. There are no major changes in the amended plan that was approved on Tuesday. They (AAP) are politicising the issue and just trying to delay the matter.”

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/delhis-development-road-map-for-next-20-years-approved-101677609700686.html