Work on DDA's smart sub-city project in Delhi to start mid 2016

NEW DELHI, May 27: Work on Rs 4,500 crore smart sub-city complex project in east Delhi, which includes an iconic 100-storied tower as its centrepiece, will begin in mid 2016. Services of leading global consultants are being elicited to design the complex that will be built by the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) under the administrative control of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). "A 100-storied iconic tower will be part of the smart sub-city complex that will come up at Karkardooma. The approximate investment on the whole project is Rs 4,500 crore, construction on which will begin by mid of 2016," Vice-Chairman DDA, Balvinder Kumar today said. A similar complex would also be set up in Sanjay Lake area in east Delhi, which too would be developed by the NBCC, he said, adding, the investment projected for this is nearly Rs 2,000 crore. Kumar was speaking at a conference on 'Creation of Housing Stock in India : A Realistic View' organised here under the aegis of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Two notifications are on the cards in the next 15 days to execute the Land Pool Policy as well as the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) measures of the government, to build an upgraded city, as also rehabilitate people in 600 slum areas. The Union Urban Development Ministry yesterday approved the regulations for operationalisation of Land Pooling Policy of the DDA with five amendments. "With these notifications in place, the DDA will be able to bypass the provisions of the existing Land Acquisition Act to acquire land to re-build on the vacant landscape within Delhi to shape up its vertical modern development under the smart sub-city model as also to transform its slum areas", Kumar said. He said, "the DDA has received proposals from global consultants from places such as Dubai, Singapore, Paris to design the smart sub-cities complexes to begin with at places like Karkardooma and Sanjay Lake area." The proposals are being short-listed, which would be finalised in "next few weeks" as NBCC has to begin the construction and and evolve these complexes into models to be emulated for the rest of Delhi. The land pooling and TOD policies will help lay out the future metro corridors and also help DDA to build about 25 lakhs of dwelling units including units for economically weaker section of society, he said.