Greater Noida begins work on city expansion, to acquire 28000 hectares land

The Greater Noida authority has announced plans to expand the city by purchasing an additional 28,000 hectares of agricultural land in response to the increasing demand for industrial and residential land in the area, officials said on Sunday.

The Greater Noida city, currently spread across 22,255 hectares of land between Noida and Dadri, has begun its expansion project following the nod from the Uttar Pradesh government.

Although 50,000 hectares have already been notified for the city’s planned development, only 22,255 hectares of land from 124 villages have been acquired and used for development.

“The acquisition of an additional 28,000 hectares of land is part of the authority’s plan for expansion, and the land acquisition process will begin once a survey and proposal have been completed. We are currently conducting a survey and preparing a proposal for the land acquisition process. Once this is completed, we will present it for final approval at our next board meeting,” said Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer of the Greater Noida authority.

Maheshwari also added that the demand for land in this region has necessitated the acquisition of 28,000 hectares of land for development.

The Uttar Pradesh government established Greater Noida as a high-tech industrial township in January 1991 under the UP Industrial Area Development Act 1976. As per the master plan 2021, urbanisation of 22,255 hectares of land across 124 villages in Greater Noida has been completed, with the population projected to reach 1.2 million by 2021. Officials said that Industrial use has been allocated 4,201 hectares of land, with a further 5,000 hectares earmarked for residential use. The total land earmarked for development by 2031 is 50,000 hectares, with officials estimating that over 30% of the land allocated for industrial development is yet to be used.

According to officials, the Greater Noida authority hired an agency to work on the master plan-2041 in October 2021, but the plan is yet to be finalised by the authority and the Uttar Pradesh government. “Once the draft of the master plan-2041 is ready, it will be discussed and approved by the authority and the Uttar Pradesh government, as well as other agencies involved,” an officials associated with the matter said.