RRTS development zones get nod

GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) board on Thursday gave its nod for the development of two special development areas (SDAS) and seven influence zones across as many stations being developed under the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project. In all, the officials said that 11 out of 16 proposals were cleared during the board meeting held at authority headquarters.

The two SDAS are defined at Guldhar and Duhai on Delhi Meerut Road along the RRTS alignment and will have an area of 250 hectares and 400 hectares, respectively. Likewise, the seven influence zones, one each, were approved in a 1.5km radius of the seven RRTS stations at Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Muradnagar, Modinagar (South) and Modinagar (North).

“The influence zones and SDAS will also be incorporated under the new 2031 Master Plan which is in final stages and a regional plan for the area will also be prepared by the authority. The approval will now be sent to the state government which will issue notification. Once the areas are notified, the authority will start clearing maps. It is estimated that the authority will earn about ₹1,000 crore revenue from the influence zones and SDAS,” said Ashish Shivpuri, authority’s chief architect and town planner.

Similar influence zones and SDAS are also proposed along the RRTS route in Meerut and their framework will be decided by the local development authority.

The influence zone of seven stations will see planned development with the authority allowing mixed land use and more commercial spaces upon payment of impact fee. The authority has proposed different zones for residential, commercial, industrial and other types of development and extra purchasable floor area ratio of 2 to 2.5 will also be available for different land uses.

The 82km route of the RRTS project is proposed to connect Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut and likely to get commissioned in 2025 while a 17km priority section will be the first stretch (from Sahibabad to Duhai in Ghaziabad) to get complete by March, 2023.

Sector rates freezed:

The board also cleared a proposal for freezing the sector rates of unsold properties for the current financial year except for properties in the three residential schemes of Indirapuram, Kaushambi and Vaishali.

The sector rates in the above three regions are around ₹50,000 per sq metres, while the regions outside these areas will vary depending on its location.

“The decision was taken in wake of poor market health impacted by the Covid-19 situation. It has been decided that the sector rate freeze will be applicable for houses/flats and shops. The residential schemes of Indirapuram, Kaushambi and Vaishali have been excluded from the freeze,” CATP added.

The sector rate is the rate at which a government property is sold for the first time. Subsequent

sale rates are computed on the basis of circle rates, which are generally at par with the market rates.

On September 28, 2012, the authority had, for the first time, increased its sector rates. This was done when circle rates, decided annually by the district magistrate, were much higher.

Later, the authority’s sector rates increased and impacted the market buyers were finding it expensive.

In board meetings held between 2015 and 2020, the sector rates were frozen, except for the areas mentioned above.

According to the proposal, the authority has 744 different unsold properties worth ₹1830.99 crore which are regularly put for sale during auctions.

The influence zones and SDAS will also be incorporated under the 2031 Master Plan.

ASHISH SHIVPURI, GDA chief architect