'Decision on 89 villages to boost Delhi's land pooling policy'

The Delhi government's notification to declare 89 of the 95 rural villages as urban villages has given a boost to operationalisation of the land pooling policy in the national capital, according to a recent survey by rating agency ICRA.
With an estimated 55,000-57,000 hectares of land expected to be unlocked, ICRA estimates the policy to result in the creation of around 2.9 million economically weaker section (EWS) dwellings with an average size of 30 sqmt.
As per the land pooling policy, the landowners can deposit their smaller chunks of land in a central pool to make a bigger and more integrated land parcel.

Under this, infrastructure facilities will be developed on this pooled land through private participation, within the framework of the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD), 2021 and respective zonal development plans.
The Ministry of Urban Development and DDA had notified the operational guidelines for implementing the land pooling policy in May, 2015.
"DDA was awaiting notification from the Government of NCT of Delhi to classify the agricultural area within the proposed urban extensions as 'urbanisable'. With this notification, DDA will be able to operationalise the land pooling policy," ICRA said.

As per the land pooling policy, the owner will be returned a part of the land in accordance with the land pooling category in which the land is initially pooled. The remaining portion of the land will be retained and developed by DDA.

The land use distribution at the city level for the urbanisable areas in the urban extensions would be as per the norms laid out in the MPD, 2021. Further, the land pooling model proposes that there would be two land pooling categories - Category-I for 20 Ha and above, and Category-II for two to less than 20 Ha.
ICRA believes the said notification of the government will have multiple positive impacts over the medium to long term.
Moreover, litigations on account of issues like compensation have gained ground over the last decade, which the policy intends to address equitably for the stakeholders.

"The policy is further expected to boost housing construction. The increase in the housing construction is expected to lead to significant job creation in the construction sector," ICRA said.
With around 59,835 Ha to 73,750 Ha in built-up area expected to be developed over the medium to long term period, there is a huge potential for growth in the housing construction.
Moreover, ICRA expects that creation of a housing stock will underpin the affordability for the common man as influx of such huge inventory of houses will keep the prices under check.
Notwithstanding the enthusiasm and positivity surrounding the current policy given its perceived advantages, the implementation of the policy will be crucial in attaining the expected benefits.

"Given that the development of an area and setting up housing is a long drawn process, some of the potential challenges that may arise will range from acquisition of left out land pockets, political risk, execution risk, issues due to differences in land valuation and timely development of basic infrastructure by the authority (DDA)," it noted.