Delhi’s skyline could resemble Manhattan’s or Shanghai’s if urban development minister Kamal Nath has his way. The minister has mooted verticalisation of Delhi in the new master plan for 2021 by allowing higher floor area ratio in the city, which is expected to increase housing stock considerably and rejuvenate some old commercial areas.
“Property prices in Delhi are too high today and the only way they can come down are by increasing supply,” says Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director (south Asia) at property advisory firm CB Richard Ellis.
Property rates in Delhi, especially in the south and central parts, today are comparable to those in cities like New York and London.
As the city has grown to a population of 17 million, these unsustainable prices and lack of vertical development have pushed home buyers towards new urban conglomerations around the city like Noida, Gurgoan, Ghaziabad,Faridabad and beyond. Today, the average property prices in Delhi are at least two to three times that in Gurgaon and Noida.
Delhi currently has an FAR of 1.2 (and 3.5 for plots under 100 sq metres) for residential and 1-1.5 for commercial compared to 13 in Shanghai and 15 in New York and Manhattan. Noida too has a higher FAR of 3, Gurgaon allows comparatively more at 1.75 and Hyderabad has allowed unlimited FAR if certain conditions like providing adequate parking are met.
The tallest building today in Delhi is the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s Civic Centre with 28 floors. In comparison, Supertech is building an 80-storey building in Noida. In Manhattan, the famous Empire State Building, which was completed in 1931, has 102 floors. FAR is the ratio of the total floor area of a building to the plot area and the concept behind it is utilisation of land in the most optimal manner.
Today, many people travel to Delhi for work as the overall population density has been spread over a larger area. “Delhi has failed to give housing to the common man due to limitations on FAR and density norms. It also aided in the creation of slums. If FAR is freed, land cost for development will come down, bringing down property prices,” says Navin Raheja, president of the National Real Estate Development Council and a developer with projects in both Delhi and Gurgaon.
So far, what has stopped the Delhi government from allowing higher FAR is the possible strain on infrastructure, like roads, water, power, sewerage that will follow such densification, but that worry still remains.
The city’s infrastructure is creaking. Infrastructure like power, water and roads are already stretched to the hilt due to decades of poor planning. Many areas in Delhi still face frequent power cuts and shortage of water, both potable and otherwise. Massive traffic snarls are common in most parts of the city that face shortage of road space because of an increase in the population of motor vehicles.
Urban development experts warn that if norms are changed and taller buildings are allowed without making a concrete plan to improve infrastructure across the city, it could lead to a worse situation. “We need to get our infrastructure development plan in order before embarking on verticalisation. The government could charge for giving higher FAR and that money should be properly utilised to strengthen infrastructure,” says Gaurav Jain, a town planner and managing director of Samyak Properties & Infrastructure.
Internationally, most such decisions are taken after a thorough study of the infrastructure in a city, which includes the impact of increasing FAR on traffic, water and power availability and sewerage, says Magazine.
Architect Ashok Lall, who works in the field of sustainable urban development feels simply allowing tall buildings everywhere will lead to an unsustainable situation in the city. “Once you go beyond six floors, the energy required to take water, sewerage and people up and down goes up 20%,” he says. According to Lall, the optimal, energy-efficient FAR is around 1.2, which is currently allowed in the city.
