DA budget approved: DMRC grant; allocation for housing, other projects

The Delhi Development Authority's budget for 2022-23 was approved on Tuesday with allocations being made for ongoing housing projects, key civic infrastructure works and for Ph-IV of the Delhi Metro.

The budget with an annual outlay of Rs 7,933 crore -- with receipts being projected at Rs 7,943 crore -- was approved in an online meeting of the Authority, chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, also the chairman of the DDA, officials said.

The DDA budget includes allocation for civic infrastructure, ongoing housing and sports-related projects and in situ development for slum rehabilitation; environmental initiatives, promotion of sports, transit-oriented development and metro projects, officials said.

A total allocation of Rs 2,922 crore has been made in budget estimate (BE) 2022-23 for the development of land and physical infrastructure which includes roads, sewerage, water supply, power lines and drainage mainly in the sub-cities of Narela, Dwarka and Rohini, the DDA said in a statement.

Also, the DDA had signed an MoU with the National Highways Authority of India for the construction of Urban Extension Road–II (UER) as a national highway. Out of the approximate the project cost of Rs 7,700 cr, the DDA has agreed to provide the viability gap funding of Rs 3,600 cr which is to be released in a phased manner. Rs 1,787 cr out of this will be funded from Urban Development Fund and rest by DDA. As the work on the project has gathered pace, Rs 900 crore had been released during 2021-22. For this, BE 2021-22 of Rs 100 crore has been enhanced and sum of Rs 725 crore has been kept in BE 2022-23 for this project, the statement said.

The DDA said, it is committed to provide Rs 1,000 crore as a grant to the DMRC in a phased manner for Delhi Metro's Ph-IV project. In BE 2022-23 also, provision of Rs 240 crore has been provided for this purpose, it added.

An allocation of Rs 2,543 crore has been provided in BE 2022-23 for completion of the ongoing housing projects, the statement said.

The DDA had launched a special housing scheme 2021 in December, consisting of its existing inventories of around 18,000 flats. In addition, a number of projects are also likely to be completed during 2022-23 in Dwarka and Narela, and DDA has projected revenue of Rs 2,761 crore from the sale of flats in BE 2022-23, it added.

The work for the development of the iconic Bharat Vandana Park with a project cost of Rs 560 crore in Dwarka sub-city is already in progress. The project spread over an area of 80 ha is being executed by NBCC. Provision of Rs 280 crore has been made in BE 2022-23, the DDA said.

Also, DDA has prepared an action plan for rejuvenation of water bodies across Delhi, accordingly a provision of Rs 17.90 crore has been provided in BE 2022-23 under this head, it said.

DDA has also undertaken the work of rejuvenation and restoration of the floodplains of River Yamuna at a total cost of Rs.928.92 crore. The work is being taken up in a phased manner as 10 separate sub projects. A sum of Rs 35.77 crore has been provided as BE 2022-23, the statement said.

Besides, an outlay of Rs 77 crore in the budget has also been provided towards development, upgradation, modernization and maintenance of city parks maintained by DDA.

The budget also provided for promotion of sports. A sum of Rs 546 cr has been provided in BE 2022-23. This includes expenditure on the ongoing project of construction of three new sports complexes at Dwarka, one at Rohini and a golf course at Dwarka. Apart from this, the DDA is also maintaining the existing 18 sports complexes and two golf courses, the statement said.

In the meeting, the Authority also approved the extension of existing rates of additional FAR (floor area ratio) and use conversion charges for various categories of properties up to June 30, 2022, as it was felt that enhancement of rates at this stage may not be in the larger public interest during the COVID-19 pandemic period, officials said.

Now, it shall be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, for approval.

Revised rates of institutional land allotted or to be allotted by DDA to government or local bodies for the block period of 2020-22, was also given a nod, for further approval of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The Authority also approved inclusion of multi-storied flats along Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Pt. Pant Marg under redevelopment area in Zonal Development Plan (ZDP), for construction of multi-storied flats for members of Parliament (Lok Sabha), for final notification by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, officials said.

Besides Delhi Lt governor, DDA Vice Chairman Manish Kumar Gupta, and other members of the Authority, including MLAa Vijender Gupta, Somnath Bharti and O P Sharma, were also present in the meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)