Land Pooling is Transformative step for Urbanisation : Puri

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs (HUA) Minister Hardeep S Puri on September 13, 2019, stated that the land pooling policy based on public private partnership in land assembly in urban development represents a paradigmatic shift, wherein land is being pooled and is to be developed by private landowners.

He further informed that the owners/group of owners can pool land parcels of any size for development as per prescribed norms and guidelines based on sectors as delineated in ZDPs. “The Policy mandates that each sector will have a 60:40 ratio with 60% of the land to be developed by Land owners/consortium for residential, commercial, partly Public Semi Public (PSP) land uses and 40% of the land to be used for various city level infrastructure requirements including roads, greens, PSP facilities, development of utilities i.e. water, sewerage, electricity etc. with involvement of private sector,” he added.

Puri was speaking at a conference on ‘Land Pooling : Building India Capital – Opportunities in Real Estate and Infrastructure” organised by Delhi Development Authority(DDA) in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) here.

Dwelling on DDA’s commitment towards operationalisation of the policy on fast track mode, Puri said that the DDA had launched portal for inviting Expression of Willingness for participation earlier this year wherein any landowner of contiguous land parcel of any size falling in 95 villages of Planning Zones K-1, L, N and P-II could come forward to register on the website. DDA conducted an extensive public outreach programme to raise awareness about the policy and educate the citizens of Delhi on its benefits. It has paid dividends as on September 6, 2019, a total of over 6,000 hectares of land has been registered under the portal expressing their willingness for participation with maximum registrations in Planning Zone N.

The Land Pooling Policy augurs well for shaping Delhi’s urban landscape, bolstering economic growth and improving living standards. DDA proposes to take up planning of the sectors which are likely to achieve the minimum threshold of 70% as Model Sectors on priority to generate momentum in real estate and infrastructure sector.

Under the policy, every 1,000 hectares of pooled land will accommodate about 3,85,000 persons in approx. 85,000 Dwelling Units. About 17 lakh Dwelling Units are expected to be constructed  of which approx. 5 lakh will be available under EWS category. Simultaneously, development of the trunk infrastructure i.e. roads, water supply, electricity supply, etc. will be taken up by DDA in coordination with the service providing agencies.

Anil Baijal, LG of Delhi, in his address, stated that the success of the policy largely depends on the provision of fast, time bound planning and development of city level infrastructure and infusion of capital which will act as a catalyst for integrated development of the sectors and zones. “While, DDA in close coordination with service providing agencies such as Transco, DJB, local bodies etc will work towards it, the participation of the private sector is equally important,” he said.