Delhi Development Authority looks to put MPD 2041 on fast track

NEW DELHI: Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is soon going to make a presentation on the
draft Master Plan for Delhi 2041 before lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, who is also
the DDA chairman.
In April, a DDA advisory council, headed by the then LG Anil Baijal, reviewed the draft MPD
2041, which incorporates the objections and suggestions from the public. DDA had received
approximately 33,000 objections and suggestions in around two and a half months.
“Senior officials are soon going to make a presentation before the LG and his views on different
aspects of MPD 2041 would also be incorporated in the draft,” said an official who didn’t wish to
be identified.

“Once we receive a go-ahead from him, the draft MPD-2041 would be placed before the
authority in a meeting under the chairmanship of the LG,” he said. After approval from the
Authority, MPD 2041 will be forwarded to the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs for its
approval and notification in the Gazette of India.
The draft MPD 2041 document was first approved by the Authority in a meeting chaired by the
then LG on April 13, 2021, following which it was published by the Authority in the Gazette of
India on June 9, 2021 for inviting objections and suggestions.
The advisory council, which had reviewed the suggestions and objections received by DDA,
consisted of elected representatives from the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, municipal
councillors, officers from central government, Delhi government officials, and experts from the
field of urban development and planning, an official said.
While DDA officials are tightlipped about the final shape the draft has taken, in the document put
in the public domain in June last year, DDA had envisioned a “future-ready” capital that would
be a “24-hour city” with an active nightlife, finding its place among global megacities.
The economy, environment and affordable housing were the main focus areas of the draft with
an aim to “foster a sustainable, liveable and vibrant Delhi by 2041”.

It also envisaged the private sector leading the housing supply scenario in the next 20 years.
The land development agency would play the role of “facilitator”, ensuring ease of doing
business while maintaining a regulatory environment, as per the draft.
In another major change, the draft plans to address the housing needs of students, single
working men and women, migrants etc through affordable housing in the shape of rental and
small-format houses like studio and serviced apartments, hostels and dormitories.
The document also puts equal emphasis on tackling the city’s consistently high levels of air,
water and noise pollution, which are not only threatening the environmental assets and local
biodiversity, but also the health of citizens.
Among the initiatives are creating new city-level assets and increase the “green-blue” quotient
within the built environment — Delhi’s waterbodies and green belts — envisaging an increase in
the net area under green-blue assets and the development of more planned green spaces. The
master plan asks for native tree and plant species to be planted to act as pollution filters.