The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) is set to adopt the Regional Plan 2041 next week, which outlines ambitious proposals including the development of 5 to 8 new townships and a vision for a '30-minute NCR' — reducing travel time between cities, including Delhi, to half an hour through a network of high-speed trains.
New Townships to Decongest Delhi
The plan, which has been shared with states ahead of the Board's meeting on June 16, proposes both brown-field redevelopment of existing settlements and greenfield creation of new ones to alleviate congestion in Delhi. Specifically, it suggests exploring the establishment of 5 to 8 new greenfield townships based on productive economic impulses in the sub-regions of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. These new settlements, including brown-field developments, are expected to feature modern smart civic amenities infrastructure similar to those developed in Auric, the Aurangabad Industrial City, a greenfield industrial smart city spanning over 10,000 acres in Maharashtra and part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIC).
Transit-Oriented Development
The regional plan recommends that NCR states undertake new self-contained and self-sufficient smart township developments as growth nodes along key transport corridors. These include existing and proposed expressways, orbital rail corridors, and other locations on less developed land or as extensions of existing settlements, following a transit-oriented development approach. The plan takes note of the Uttar Pradesh government's initiative to develop the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Area as a greenfield city with a population of 20 lakh, as well as Haryana's plans to develop areas around the KMP Expressway or WPE as 'Panchgrams'. These will be detailed in the sub-regional plan as new greenfield townships.
High-Speed Connectivity Vision
Proposing high-speed connectivity across the region, the plan emphasizes the necessity to minimize journey time across the NCR and bring it under 30 minutes through superfast trains and heli-taxis. Travel time should be within 60 minutes by other trains and 2 to 3 hours by car. Delhi, in particular, should have 30-minute connectivity through superfast trains with major cities in the NCR. The plan also explores the feasibility of a '30-minute fast high-quality limited-stop mass-transit rail system' from the nearest NCR boundaries to Delhi.
Housing and Institutional Development
The plan advocates for institutions across the NCR to create required housing facilities, preferably on their institutional plots, to cater to housing needs through residential apartments, hostels, and transit housing. It prescribes that about 15 to 20 percent of the land allotted to an institution may be eligible for residential use for all people working or studying there.
Investment Requirements
Acknowledging projections that Delhi-NCR will overtake Tokyo to become the world's most populous urban agglomeration by 2030, the plan estimates that accommodating over three crore additional citizens over the next 15 years and upgrading infrastructure for the existing population will require an investment of over Rs 20 lakh crore.
