The work on the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) six in-situ slum rehabilitation projects comprising 10 jhuggi jhopri (JJ) clusters, which aim to provide a total of 10,337 houses, will start this year, a DDA official said on Wednesday.
Construction of the projects for the 10 clusters — which are located in the city’s Rohini, Dilshad Garden, Shalimar Bagh and Haiderpur areas — will be carried out on public-private-partnership (PPP) model. According to the DDA’s annual budget for 2022-23, which was presented on Tuesday, the request for proposal (RFP) of these projects have been floated.
Apart from this, an allocation of ₹2,543 crore has been provided in the budget estimatefor the completion of the DDA’s ongoing housing projects; new housing projects were not proposed.
“The timeline for the completion of the six projects will depend on the success of the bids and the market response. This activity may go on for a few years; the biggest concern that builders have expressed is of vacating the clusters. In Kathputli Colony, it took three to four years to vacate and relocate the dwellers,” the DDA official said, adding that no provision of funds for the six projects has been made in the latest annual budget.
The in-situ slum rehabilitation projects are a part of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme, which is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the objective of ensuring proper housing to eligible slum dwellers along with the low, middle-income groups, and economically weaker sections (EWS) by 2022.
A provision of ₹30 crore and ₹168 crore has been made to the budget estimate (2022-23) for the ongoing construction of 3,024 EWS houses at Kalkaji Extension and 1,675 EWS houses in Jailorwala Bagh respectively. Under the revised budget estimates for 2021-2022, a provision of ₹46 crore and ₹120 crore had been made for the Kalkaji and Jailorwala Bagh projects respectively.
According to a senior DDA official, the Kalkaji project is likely to be completed by February 28, while the Jailorwala Bagh project will be tentatively completed by March 31.
The DDA’s projected revenue from the sale of flats, after the launch of its special housing scheme (2021) with 18,000 flats up for sale, stands at ₹2,761 crore, as per the budget estimates for the new financial year.
‘Sustainable budget’
With an annual outlay of ₹7,933 crore and projected receipts at ₹7,943 crore, the DDA’s annual budget for the new financial year lays a special focus on the development of Rohini, Narela and Dwarka — with a total allocation of ₹2,922 crore having been made for the development of land and physical infrastructure mainly for these areas.
The agency has signed a memorandum with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the construction of Urban Extension Road (UER)-II, which aims to increase connectivity to Dwarka, Narela and Rohini areas. While the DDA has agreed to provide a viability gap funding of ₹3,600 crore for the project — whichcostsapproximately ₹7,700 core – in a phased manner, a provision of ₹725 crore was made to the latest budget estimate. A total of ₹1,787 crore will also be allocated from the Urban Development Fund and the rest by DDA.
A grant of ₹1,000 crore is to be provided by the DDA to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)for the Phase-IV Delhi metro project, and a provision of ₹240 crore was made in the budget estimates. Apart from this, a provision of ₹47.49 crore has been made for the construction of a sewage water drain at Sector-8, Dwarka, which aims to provide a solution to the problem of waterlogging near IGI Airport during heavy rainfall.
Apart from this, a proposal for construction of multistoried flats along the Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Pandit Pant Marg in central Delhi was also approved on Tuesday. The houses are to be included as a redevelopment area under the zonal plan.
Meanwhile, Manish Kumar Gupta, a 1991-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the DDA. Mr. Gupta was serving as principal commissionerat the DDA.
