DDA to raise FAR by up to 66%
While some hotels like the Leela Palace in Chanakyapuri will benefit from the move, industry experts say most other hotels might not because the ground coverage has not increased, and older buildings may not be able to support extra floors. reports on Flo
In a recent development, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has decided to increase the cap on total floor area for hotels by up to 66 per cent. According to DDA, the Authority will increase the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) or Floor Space Index (FSI) — the ratio of the total floor area of a building to the size of the plot on which it is built — to 3.75 for hotels outside the Lutyens zone that stand on roads with more than 30-metre width, up from existing FAR of 2.25. This means the gross floor area across different floors of such a hotel can be 3.75 times the size of the plot. In the case of hotels next to roads with width of under 30 mt, again outside the Lutyens zone, FAR is being raised to 3.25, up 44 per cent. While some hotels like the Leela Palace in Chanakyapuri will benefit from the move, industry experts say most other hotels might not because the ground coverage has not increased, and older buildings
Hotels will have to examine whether vertical expansion is possible given the strength of their buildings
may not be able to support extra floors.
Only some hotels will benefit from the move but other hotels might not
Without extra ground coverage, it will be difficult to utilise this additional FAR
because the ground coverage has not increased.
Talking about the development, SM Shervani, President, FHRAI, said,
We will definitely find the best possible usage to render the move as most marketable
“Hotels will have to examine whether vertical expansion is possible given the strength of their buildings as ground coverage has not been
increased. DDA had increased the FAR for hotels from 1.5 to 2.25 in 2008 to help increase the number of rooms in the city for the Commonwealth Games but at that time it had also allowed 10 per cent more ground coverage because of which some hotels had added rooms.”
Hotels in Delhi’s Lutyens Bungalow Zone like the Taj Mahal, Shangri La, Le Meridien, The Oberoi, Taj Palace, ITC Maurya and Claridges will not profit from the new rule because of heritage laws. Even hotels being built near the airport in the new hospitality district will not benefit because of height restriction. According to
Sushil Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Asian Hotels, which owns the Qutab Hotel and the JW Marriott at the Aerocity, “Without extra ground coverage, it will be difficult to utilise this additional FAR.”
Rajiv Kaul, President, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts, welcomed the move. “This is extremely valuable real estate so we will definitely find the best possible usage to render it most marketable,” he informed.