Unlocking Delhi real estate to Yamuna riverfront: Taranjit Singh Sandhu’s big tasks

The Indian Express had previously reported that the riverfront will come up near Sarai Kale Khan, at the site of the erstwhile Millennium Park Bus Depot. The government wants to replicate Gujarat’s Sabarmati riverfront model in the Capital.

The riverfront project is also part of the DDA’s plans to redevelop the 22-km stretch of the Yamuna between Wazirabad barrage and Okhla barrage. Eleven floodplain projects are to be developed on the floodplains on 1,500 hectares, out of which five are ready.

Work is still on for the Kalindi Biodiversity Park adjacent to the DND Flyway; the Mayur Nature Park near Nizamuddin Bridge; a new Eco-tourism area near Rajghat; Yamuna Vansathali; and Hindon Sarovar.

Delhi’s housing

As chair of the DDA, Sandhu will also be at the forefront of bringing out the Delhi Master Plan (MPD) 2041, which will shape the national capital’s land use and housing and infrastructure for the next two decades.

While the DDA and previous L-G V K Saxena had approved a draft of the MPD 2041, it is pending for approval with the central government since 2023.

The DDA has since sought to push through major components of the plan as standalone policies such as the land pooling policy.

Part of MPD 2041 initially, the land pooling policy was aimed at opening up large areas of land in Outer Delhi areas like Bawana and Najafgarh — currently under small-scale agriculture and haphazard unauthorised development — for large-scale planned development by the private sector.

But there has been very slow progress on it. Amendments to speed up land pooling have also been pending with the Centre since 2022.

The DDA recently released the latest version of its transit-oriented development (TOD) policy — also part of MPD 2041 — which seeks to open up large areas of the city near Metro corridors for more construction by granting those land parcels higher Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The previous policy did not see much participation from the private sector.

Delhi’s slum rehabilitation policy, which encourages private developers to rehabilitate slum dwellers on one part of the land, while using the rest of it for commercial profit, has also failed to take off. Only one project, the Kathputli Colony rehabilitation, being carried out by Raheja Developers was started but has not been completed.

All these three policies, if successfully implemented with the participation of the private sector, will lead to the creation of housing and infrastructure needed to support Delhi’s more than 2-crore population.

Apart from pushing these policies and securing approval of MPD-2041, L-G Sandhu will play a critical role encouraging the private sector to participate in Delhi’s development.