by THO
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to raze the existing single-storey flats for the civic body’s officials at Minto Road in central Delhi and redevelop them as high rises, officials aware of the matter have said.
The site currently has 41 flats, ranging from Type-2 to Type-5, that were built in the 1940s. However, these buildings are in various stages of disrepair, the officials said, adding that only 19 are currently occupied. As part of the MCD plan, these flats will be demolished, and five towers with nine storeys each shall be developed at the site, in a project that will cost an estimated ₹121.4 crore.
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Municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, in a letter to the municipal secretary dated February 23, said that the architect department has prepared a conceptual plan for the project, which will have a plot area of around 13,500 sqm, with each tower having a height 32.7m, which will include a 3m stilt.
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“The existing set of municipal flats are very old and are in a poor state. Out of the 41 municipal flats, only 19 are currently occupied and 22 are lying vacant due to inhabitable conditions. As more than 50% of the flats are lying vacant and remaining occupied flats require frequent maintenance over a period, they have become uneconomical and unviable to MCD,” the letter states.
HT has seen a copy of the letter.
The proposal was put before the corporation on March 7, but its consideration has been postponed for the next meeting.
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To be sure, the erstwhile North MCD had also attempted to redevelop the site in 2018-19, proposing to redevelop the existing flats as office space, but the project could not be executed due to technical hurdles and poor the financial state of the civic body.
Before it can start its fresh attempt, MCD will need to first get the land use of the area changed. “The chief town planning office has stated that the site falls under district park as use marked in the zonal development plan of the Master Plan of Delhi. These flats were handed over from NDMC to MCD in 1958. The land use will have to be changed with the help of DDA (Delhi Development Authority). The process of change of land use will go simultaneously with the preparation of detailed estimates for the project but the tenders will be invited only after getting the land use changed,” an official aware of the project said.
