Taking a leaf out of the development model adopted by Gujarat’s Surat Municipal Corporation, Delhi Government is actively considering the public private partnership (PPP) model for generating funds for the planned development of the national Capital.
The Delhi Government recently convened a meeting of officers to explore whether the same model could be adopted and implemented here.The city Government was advised by the Union Urban Development Ministry to study and adopt the Surat model as that would help in the development.
Ministry of Urban Development has sent an advisory to the Delhi Government to adopt funding infrastructure projects on the lines of what the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has done for the Outer Ring Road project. Delhi has two ring roads, inner and outer with a combined length of 87 kilometre.
It would be interesting to see as to how the Congress-ruled Government replicates Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s model of development as he has been constantly criticised by the Congress.
Earlier, the Ministry of Urban Development had praised the Gujarat Government for completing projects on time under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Sources in the Government said that chief secretary DM Spolia held a high-level meeting with officials of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Public Works Department (PWD), land and Buildings and Engineering experts to examine the Surat Model of development.
According to sources, it was decided that Surat model may be used for development of Urban Extension Roads (UERs) which is being developed by DDA as there are lots of vacant plots which could be developed through PPP model.
The letter from the Union Urban Development Ministry stated that the Surat model is being implemented without any financial assistancefrom the State Government or the Centre.The increase in the land value owing to the development of the project is going to pay for the development of the city and other infrastructure and will also save funds for Government’s coffers. A ring road is a highway that encircles a town or a city, allowing inter-city traffic to remain away from the main thoroughfares and thus, facilitate decongestion.
Congress-led Government in the city is keeping it a low key affair as it has been culled out from Gujarat model but generating funds for the two ring roads in the national Capital is an arduous task. Surat model can change the landscape around ring roads in the national Capital with public private partnership (PPP).
Under the UERs project, a road from NH-8, NH-10 and NH-1 to Wazirabad bypass will be constructed which is UER-I. The 57.24 km-long road from NH-8 to Wazirabad bypass is already under construction as part of UER-I. Another road will connect NH-1, NH-2, NH-8 and NH-10 to Wazirabad bypass as part of UER-II. UER-III will help provide connectivity from Wazirabad bypass to NH-I and NH-10. This second road will be 79.12 km-long and 100m wide. The second one will be broader at 100m while the first and third UERs will be 80m wide. During the meeting, officials stated the Surat model is similar to Delhi Metro’s transit oriented development plan and DDA’s land pooling policy.
Under the model, SMC and Surat Urban Development Authority (SUDA) have jointly come up with the model to generate about Rs 11,960 crore from the development of proposed road over five years. This will mean that these bodies would get the entire project cost of Rs 5,796 crore. The additional revenue can be used for projects such as high-speed transit system.
In that project, 60 per cent of the land acquired for the project will be returned to the landowners. Of the remaining 40 per cent, 15 to 20 per cent area will be used for roads, 5 per cent for parks, playgrounds, gardens and open spaces, 5 per cent for social infrastructure such as schools, dispensaries, fire stations and public utilities, 10 to 15 per cent for sale by appropriate authority for residential, commercial or industrial purposes.