Smart City Project to Come Up Before Cabinet on April 22, 2015

The ambitious “Smart City” project of the NDA government is likely to be brought for Cabinet’s approval on April 22, sources said. The project, which is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s heart, got a go-ahead from the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) last week.
To begin with, the “Smart City” project would include 20 cities and the number would subsequently go up to 100.
Every city has been earmarked Rs 100 crore each for the project. The project has been at a consultative stage since the NDA government announced it in May 2014.
“A Cabinet note has been prepared for the Smart City project and is likely to come up for approval on April 22,” said a senior UD ministry official. Prime Minister Modi is presently on a three-nation tour and the next Cabinet meeting is expected to be held on April 22 when he returns.

 

Apart from the Smart City project, the new urban renewal mission is also likely to be taken up by the Cabinet. While Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for the Smart City project, the urban mission has got Rs 4,000 crore for the current fiscal, as per the EFC.
Aiming at upgrading the basic infrastructure in cities, the new urban renewal mission, which replaces UPA’s flagship JNNURM, is likely to be named “Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation” (AMRUT) after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The official, however, said no such name has been finalised yet.
The proposed urban mission will take up projects related to sanitation, drinking water, urban transportation and sewerage among others.
As far as the Smart City project is concerned, it will be mostly taken up with active participation of private players and partnership with state governments and urban local bodies.
Continuous supply of water and electricity, advanced health facilities, hassle-free transportation system, wi-fi enabled zones, effective garbage collection and treatment of garbage and sewage are some of the essential components of the Smart City project.
The urban local bodies will have to undertake certain reforms in order to be eligible to be part of the Smart City project, the official added.

Source: Indian Express

Date : 15th April 2015

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Delhi’s Smart City - Spain Spells Out Technical Terms

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to set up 100 ‘smart cities’, beginning with the national capital, Spain has presented a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to spell out the technical support it will offer to the Ministry of Urban Development for construction of the world-class project.
Reportedly, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu had held a meeting with officials of the ‘Barcelona Regional’ five months ago after a brief visit to Spain to seek “technical expertise” to construct the smart city, which will be spread over 20-24 hectares.

 Sources said officials from Spain met the vice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority recently with the MoU, explaining the terms of cooperation, which the department will now process and submit to the urban development ministry.
According to the MoU, the coordinators for the project will be the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, ICEX Spain Trade and Investments and the urban development ministry.
Sources said the memorandum states that expertise will be provided on issues of urban planning and management, infrastructure, water management, housing, waste management, mobility, energy and utilities, sanitation, environment and public goods and services.
Sources said a Joint Working Group meeting will be held alternatively in India and Spain every year, as part of the terms.
“The project has been proposed to de-congest the capital and facilitate it with all amenities. Focus will be to build global educational and health institutes and entertainment facilities. The city will be zoned out of Dwarka, Rohini and Narela and will be equipped with the latest technologies and waste management techniques,” a ministry official said.
Twenty-four hours’ water supply, WiFi, green technology, rainwater harvesting and waste management techniques will also be part of the project. Naidu, at a public function, had said apart from its modern buildings and the fact that it is an “advanced city”, Barcelona “has preserved its old architecture. We also want to preserve our traditional architecture, that India is so richly endowed with, even as we embrace modernity”.
Source: Indian Express
Dated: 6th April 2015

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Land-Pooling Policy of MPD 2021: Vision for Smart Delhi - Report By NIIF

Conference on Land Pooling titled "Land-Pooling Policy of MPD 2021: Vision for Smart Delhi" was held on 13 December, 215 at Le Meridian by New India Initiative Foundation (NIIF) supported by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The confrence discussed about Hon'ble PM Sh. Narendra Modi's vision of setting up 100 smart cities as well as renewal of 500 existing cities including Delhi.
Various questions, that were addressed in the conference were:

• Is Delhi ready for such a makeover?
• Will a common man get a house at affordable price?
• How will land owners in different parts of Delhi, developers, infrastructure providers, service providers and DDA covert to deliver a workable solution under the Policy to create Smart Delhi?

Here is a detailed report by NIIF about the various topics covered in the conference. 

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DDA L Zone - All About It

DDA L Zone has emerged as new sought after real estate destination in Delhi NCR in last few days. Both real estate investors as well as end users are eying on DDA’s L Zone, Delhi to invest or have their dream home.
In all this hustle-bustle, a lot of questions must be there like :

• What is DDA L Zone and Where is it?
• Land Pooling Policy !! What is it ?
• Should one put his/her money in it ?

Lets know all about it:

What is L zone and were is it?
"L Zone, Delhi" is located in South-West Delhi and spread across 22,840 hectare of land. It is located in very close proximity to Dwarka Sub City and Gurgaon. It also enjoys well connectivity and closeness to IGI Airport. DDA is developing it in order to meet the growing need of residential apartments in Delhi.
DDA, under its Master Plan 2021 has divided Delhi into 15 Zones for development. L Zone is one of them as the largest zone as well the zone with proposed 1st Smart City of Delhi NCR. Its strategic connectivity to IGI, Gurgaon, Dwarka expressway and Dwarka Sub City gives it an edge too.

Land Pooling Policy, what is it ?
Under land pooling policy, land owners can surrender their land holding into central pool and be a stakeholder to the development proposed on their land. Once the land is pooled, the land owner would get back 40-60% of total land surrendered as developable land. DDA would have remaining area for development of roads, drainage, sewerage and other civic amenities. Once developed, the developers/housing societies will be allowed to start their construction plans.
Land pooling policy has been approved by the Gazette Notification no. 2076 dated 6th Sep 2013, and process of surrender and approval of individual project is awaited.
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Should one put his/her money in DDA L Zone ?
L Zone, Delhi is a very good opportunity for both home buyers as well as investors as its in early stage of planning. Home buyers can avail early bird opportunity and can own their residential apartment in this premium location that too at affordable price. The investors can also look ahead for greater returns from their investments.
It seems to be the right time to invest in L Zone under the DDA Master plan 2021, however one should keep in mind that actual implementation of the plans on ground may take some time. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. So, With a willingness to wait for some years for the investment to grow, real estate investors can get remarkable return on their investments.

In brief : DDA L Zone is a happening to be a highly sought after residential zone in the coming five years. It is emerging as most sought after real estate investment destination in Delhi and if any time is the ideal time to invest in property in DDA L zone, the time is now.

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