People under the stairs

The present notification would thus seem to be part of this ongoing evolution of policy. Apart from serving local needs effectively, regulated mixed land use can create substantial additional benefits. Since mixed land use 8220;shall be subject to payment of conversion charges8221;, it should increase local tax revenues by regularising existing enterprises that have so far survived by bribing. It should also reduce the stranglehold of the land mafia by increasing the commercial space available. Finally, it makes the city more compact by affecting the incentives for location and thereby reduces the demand for transportation.

The notification confers the right to identify and notify mixed use streets to the concerned local body 8212; ie, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi MCD, or DDA. This covers shops, professional activity, pre-primary schools, nursing homes, guesthouses, banks, and fitness centres. It says that 8220;mixed use streets would be identified based on traffic and parking studies and may be permitted on the ground floor, in residential plots facing streets/roads of minimum 18.0 mtr ROW8230;Parking 2.0 ECS per 100 sqr. mtr shall be provided within the premises. Where this is not available, the cost of development of parking shall be payable to the concerned local body8221;. For residential plotted schemes, it limits mixed use to external roads and also provides for 8220;consultation8221; with residents8217; welfare associations RWAs.

Sounds reasonable, doesn8217;t it? The problem is no one believes in the government8217;s plans to extend mixed use without turning the friendly neighbourhood street into a chaotic parking lot, and with good reason. Parking is already a problem because of the three-story relaxation, permitted ostensibly to increase the availability of housing supply. One consequence has been increased demand for parking. Since no house in Delhi8217;s residential plotted schemes seems to provide for parking within premises, this means increased demand for space on residential streets. One wonders if all these RWAs realise that their members are encroaching just as much as the slum dwellers along the Yamuna. Be that as it may, if demand for commercial parking is added to this pre-existing requirement, few residential areas would qualify for mixed land use, which is perhaps as it should be.

In this context it is interesting to speculate on where MCD will develop parking in residential areas. As it is, professionally developed and competitively tendered projects for underground multi-level parking in pre-defined commercial areas are hanging fire, a relic of a complex conflict between the councillors, a commissioner who was recently moved to another position, and a chief minister whose writ does not run in the municipality. Each of these multi-level parking projects took over a year to prepare 8212; in terms of developing the documentation, obtaining the land and permissions and going though a structured tender process 8212; and it will take another two years to execute when and if they are started. Given the present willingness to pay for parking, such projects are not viable without a portion of the space being used for commercial purposes, reducing the net supply of new parking. Neither are they eligible for viability grants. So, how is the writ of the notification to be implemented and will mixed land use be on hold until such infrastructure is provided? As the RWAs would say 8212; you must be joking! As for 8220;conversion charges8221;, will there be a penal element? After all, the establishments have been illegal for many years, and even if their offence is to be compounded, surely a suitable penalty is not unreasonable. Otherwise, in a post-Jessica Lall world this would be yet another example where the richer get away with violating the law while the high court wants the poor slum dwellers on the Yamuna banks removed by Baisakhi.

In the old movie, People Under the Stairs, unexpected creatures emerged once the stair doors were opened. It would appear that the people of Delhi fear the same once commercial establishments begin to occupy the spaces under their stairs. The problem is not that the RWAs oppose mixed land use. Rather, it is that given the historical gap between stated intent and actual outcome, they do not trust their government to sensibly regulate mixed land use.

A solution can begin in four steps. First, in true spirit of Bhagidari, statutory local consultation and agreement must be necessary for mixed use in residential areas instead of the existing unilateral determination by MCD. Second, development plans for necessary additional infrastructure, such as parking, must be in place 8212; that is, contracts have to be awarded, before the change of land use is effected. Third, the conversion charge needs to be set at a level that penalises past development. Fourth, a more transparent accounting of expected fiscal benefits like increased tax collections is needed. Little of this seems likely.

The RWAs8217; concern is that if this notification leads to Greater Kailash M-Block becoming the next South Extension without the promised additional parking, the next M-Block market may well be their own narrow street, populated by the next generation of entrepreneurs whose enterprises will be legalised a few years down the line. Regulated mixed land use can indeed benefit Delhi, but who can be trusted to regulate?

The writer, formerly with the Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, has worked extensively on land use issues