DDA’s renewed attempt to sell 8,500 flats in Narela sub-city

The LIG, EWS flats on offer in Narela have found few takers in the past; to attract homebuyers, the urban body has relaxed norms and is trying to augment connectivity, police presence in Narela

September 27, 2022 01:29 am | Updated 01:29 am IST - NEW DELHI:

DDA flats in Narela.

DDA flats in Narela. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) recently made another bid to dispose of its unsold inventory in Narela by offering over 8,500 flats in batches for the lower income group (LIG) and economically weaker section (EWS) nearly a fortnight ago.

In the first batch, 1,281 flats are on offer, whose sale is expected to fetch the urban body ₹196.90 crore in revenue. Of these, 870 flats have already been sold, say officials.

In order to attract homebuyers, the DDA is offering its flats on a “first-come-first-serve” basis through a “running” scheme, which means that it has no deadline. Moreover, the urban body has relaxed its norms for the allotment of EWS houses. The relaxation mainly involves doing away with the condition that the applicant’s annual individual income should be less than ₹3 lakh.

However, there’s a long way to go before DDA manages to attract enough attention to dispose of the first batch of its 8,500 flats, which itself is a fraction of the 50,000 unsold flats that the urban body has in Narela.

Officials whom The Hindu spoke to, spoke about the issues ailing DDA’s housing projects in Narela and the manner in which the urban body is trying to fix them.

Three big issues

According to a senior official, the DDA faces three major hurdles in the Narela sub-city — its poor image among homebuyers given that the flats have remained unsold despite being offered in multiple housing schemes, deficient connectivity with the other parts of the Capital and sparse deployment of the police.

“I feel that with the norms being relaxed, our scheme will get some traction. But some issues, in terms of its location and connectivity, may take longer to resolve. If it were only about the image of the area, we could have dealt with it. Perceptions can be changed. But it’s a combination of both,” said a senior DDA official.

Connecting sub-city

He added that the urban body is in talks with the Delhi Transport Corporation to chalk out a few bus routes closer to the housing pockets in Narela, to improve the area’s connectivity.

At the moment, DTC operates two buses in two shifts from Narela pocket-G and Narela Sector-A1 to Central Secretariat. Moreover, to improve the police’s presence in the area, the DDA has also allotted land to Delhi Police for construction of 11 police stations in various sectors of the sub-city.

“Narela has been pitched on the lines of a sub-city that will come up in the future and large-scale development works are already underway. However, these works, and connectivity improvements such as the metro rail, will take time,” said a second DDA official.

“Even in the case of Dwarka, homebuyers were initially not keen about purchasing houses. But if we look at it now, the picture is completely different. Similarly, Narela is a place which will appeal to homebuyers in the future. It will definitely find takers once the issues are sorted out,” the official added.

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