Delhi’s housing pool to brim with choices

Vivek Shukla

Should we believe that now all those keen to have a house in Delhi would not have to settle for NCR cities like Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon etc? Reason? The Union Urban Development Ministry  has approved land-pooling policy regulations, setting the stage for new apartment blocks to be built on close to 20,000 hectares recognised by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). These would be  developed  in north, northwest, west and southwest Delhi.

 This no doubt is good news for homebuyers  looking to have a house in Delhi. Almost 25 lakh new homes may come up within the  city limits in the next few years.

The good thing about the land-pooling policy is that 15 per cent land would  be reserved for making houses for those from economically weaker sections. Half of these flats will be sold to DDA at pre-determined rates, while the developer entity can sell the rest.

As  the government has already approved a floor area ratio (FAR) — the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the area of the piece of land on which it is built  — of 400 per cent, the growth will be largely vertical with 15 to 20 floors in each apartment block, according to DDA officials. 

Private developers, however, pegged it at around 30 storeys. 

“It is a landmark decision made by the Modi government and would pave the pave the way for lot of real estate activities in the Capital. At the same time, I feel that it would not affect the demand for houses in NCR,” says Rajeev Chopra, CEO of ILD developers.

It goes without saying that even if half of this area — currently farm land across 89 villages dotting Delhi — is developed under land pooling, then it will be sufficient to meet the Capital’s housing need of 25 lakh homes. 

 Realty sector experts say that under the land-pooling policy, plots owned by individuals or a group of owners, known as a developer entity, can be handed over to the DDA — the nodal authority for all real estate approvals in the city. The DDA develops a portion of the land and hands it back to the developers while keeping the rest to develop common areas  like roads, parks, infrastructure.

 “I would term the decision of the government as  better late than never as far as realty scene in Delhi is concerned. Now, land would available for the housing projects in abundance,” says Nikhil Jain, CEO of Ramprastha Developers.

Talking about the land pooling policy, Samir Jasuja, head of PropEquity says, “I think if the land pooled is above 20 hectares, the DDA will develop 60 per cent of it — 53 per cent as residential area, 5 per cent commercial area and 2 per cent for public and semi-public facilities — and hand it back to the developers, who can then build houses on this.” And  DDA will keep the remaining 40 per cent of the land.

If the land pooled is between two and 20 hectares, the DDA will retain 52 per cent of it while the developers will get back the remaining amount of which 2 per cent will be for public and semi-public facilities and 3 per cent for commercial purposes.

 A DDA official says that  if the DDA does not complete the work within the prescribed time, then it will have to pay a penalty of 2 per cent of the external development charges  for the first two years and 3 per cent for each year thereafter.

Experts say that work on the new homes can take off once the Delhi government declares the 89 villages as urban villages and the 20,000 hectares as development area.