Delhi housing societies gear up for redevelopment

Vivek Shukla

One can witness animated debates among morning walkers in I.P. Extension, Mayur Vihar and others parts of the capital these days. These are the areas having several over two decade old co-operative Group Housing Societies (GHS). The topic is the terms and conditions of redevelopment of group housing societies by builders. The questions vary from, will they face any issue from the builders once they hand-over their societies to them? Will the developer complete the reconstruction work in time?, to what should be the new house plan and how to get approvals for that? After the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) decision to allow increased floor area ratio (FAR), additional towers and regularisation of additionally constructed rooms in the co-operative group housing societies, those who living there are discussing the issue at length.

Delhi has over 1,500 such old housing societies in different stages of neglect and dilapidation that will need to be redeveloped immediately. And it goes without saying that this is a virtual “goldmine” for developers to have fresh inventory within Delhi. So a number of local as well as national level players are making bids to take up redevelopment of such societies as it would bring them a significant number of apartments to be sold afresh in several centrally located prime areas in the Capital. 

Only last week, some senior officials of realty major Omaxe group visited a housing society of media professionals in I.P. Extension. In their detailed presentation, they promised to give enough parking spaces and more spacious flats to the owners within a specified period. 

 DDA, too, has already submitted its proposal to the urban development ministry for consideration. The proposal was mooted by the DDA after it obtained clearance from the Lt-Governor Najeeb Jung. The proposal seeks to allow societies to avail additional FAR by construction of more flats and towers. It could also pave the way for the regularisation of additionally constructed rooms that may have been built earlier without following the norms.

Meanwhile, the realtors, too, are discussing the DDA proposal seriously. “While we are still discussing the matter and  would like to redevelop the group housing societies, we would wait for more time to plunge in this  area and redevelop the societies,” says Rajeev Chopra, CEO of ILD group.

Prem Bhutani, a resident of a society in East Delhi, says that while it is a good idea to redevelop the societies, the resident welfare bodies have to  be very careful in selecting the builder. “Given the fact many of them are not fair with their customers in terms of delivery and the construction quality, we have to be very careful in choosing them for re-development”, he says.

Societies wanting redevelopment will be allowed to build as many floors as they may require, but only after seeking clearances from the Airports Authority of India, the Fire Department and Registrar of Housing.

“The policy will enable societies to raze the premises to the ground and reconstruct, if required. The proposal will increase FAR by 1.5 times, and raise ground coverage to 40 per cent from the existing 33 per cent,” says a DDA official. 

As in the case of old societies in Mumbai, builders in Delhi are also offering lucrative deals to the owners wherein they not only have to pay nothing for getting a brand new house and more parking space, many of the builders are also offering to pay the rent for the period of reconstruction of the new buildings to the owners. But in spite of this trust is a major issue with the owners, especially with reports of delay in deliveries making the roundsa in the realty circles in the Capital. Prabodh Garg, president of Nav Kranti Society in I.P. Extension, while backing the plan to redevelop the old societies said, “We would consider only those builders to develop our society who can give flats to the owners in their towers till the redevelopment work is completed. We will not accept rents from the builder. The reason is clear. We cannot trust him. We will be in soup if he fails to deliver the flats in time”.

“I know that many group housing societies had approached the department to be allowed to extend their FAR. Naturally, the residents want these to be redeveloped. We would like to work on such projects. It would be a challenge. We will  consider all aspects before redeveloping the societies”, says Nikhil Jain, CEO of Ramprastha Developers.