NCR Regional Plan 2041 should be ready within two years: Official

The NCR Regional Plan for 2041 is likely to be ready within two years and would focus on how to make cities citizen-centric, improve livability, environmental sustainability and disaster resilience, said Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra.

Setting the agenda for the conclave on National Capital Region -2041, organised by the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB),  Mishra said that only plans with crucial factors like economic ability and sustainability can succeed.

"I am hopeful that the National Capital Region 2041 Masterplan would be ready by 2021. The focus over the last few years has been on urbanisation. The plan would have to be citizen centric and would have to look at improving livelihoods, it would have to focus on sustainability, improving air quality index, tackle issues such as flooding and preserve the bio diversity, culture and heritage of the areas. The plan would have to focus on harmonious development of the entire region whose population is almost equal to that of France or Italy," he said.

He added that the  Regional Plan would have a major impact on the entire region as it would drive and decide the magnitude/direction in which the development will take place in the region.

The focus of planning should be to improve livability of the entire region. The first Ease of Living Index was notified in 2018. "This year we have decided to split the Livability Index into two – Ease of Living Index and Municipal Performance Index. Both would be outcome-based,” he said.

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The 2041 regional plan should focus on improving livability, economic ability, sustainability, try and make the National Conservation Zone more effective, look at ways to integrate rural and urban, utilise  opportunities provided by the Transit Oriented Development policy and redevelopment, he said.

Land is the biggest challenge today and planners should think of ways to make optimum use of existing land, he said.

Asked if the 2021 plan has been met with success, he said that a “lot has been achieved – both the Eastern and Western Peripheral Roads are ready, civil construction work is on with regard to the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (Delhi–Meerut RRTS), a lot of progress has been achieved on the Delhi to Panipat, Delhi-Alwar RRTS projects too. These are expected to be sanctioned soon.

The three key challenges would be to understand what are the priorities of citizens.

"We would look at the global best practices and see where other countries have succeeded and where they have failed, why they have succeeded and why they have failed so that we can learn from them. This is going to be the world’s most populous city in 10 years time.  We have a very short time frame and therefore we need to plan it properly and make it entirely workable," said Archana Agrawal, member secretary, NCR Planning Board.

The Conclave saw participation from NCR  states, concerned ministries, knowledge institutions, industries, housing associations, subject experts among others.

The Regional Plan with the horizon year 2021 was notified on the 17th of September 2005 and is presently in force. A Regional Plan with the next horizon year 2041 is now required to be prepared.

The Regional Plan addresses various sectors namely Transport, Water, Sewerage, Solid Waste, Power, Regional Land use, etc. As per a report by United Nation, Delhi is slated to become the world's largest metropolis overtaking Tokyo by 2028.

The National Capital Region is a federal setup having the National Capital Territory of Delhi as its core. The NCR covers around 55,083 sq km of the area with around 60 million population.

Haryana sub-region comprises of districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Rohtak, Sonepat, Rewari, Jhajjar, Mewat, Palwal, Panipat, Mahendregarh, Jind, Karnal, Bhiwani, and Charkhi Dadri.

Rajasthan sub-region comprises of districts of Alwar and Bharatpur.

Uttar Pradesh Sub-region comprises of districts of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bulandsahr, Baghpat, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar, and Shamli.

National Capital Region Planning Board  (NCRPB) was constituted by the Act of Parliament in 1985, as a statutory body under the ministry of housing and urban affairs for the development of the entire region and was tasked to evolve harmonised policies for the control of land-uses and development of infrastructure in the region.