New Delhi: A 10-storeyed World Trade Centre with 12 towers, which is expected to be ready in the next few months, has replaced the single-storeyed, decrepit government housing colonies at Nauroji Nagar in south Delhi. It stands out amidst the low-density neighbourhood comprising residential quarters for central government employees.
Over 600 single-storeyed government flats were razed to free up 25 acres of land to make way for this mega commercial complex, which is part of the Modi government’s ambitious plan to redevelop seven General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) colonies, or government housing colonies, located in south Delhi.
As part of the 7GPRA redevelopment project, government residential colonies at Sarojini Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Srinivaspuri, Mohammadpur, and Thyagraj Nagar are being redeveloped.
Once ready, this will be the third project after Mohammadpur and Thyagraj Nagar, which were inaugurated in April 2023.
According to senior government officials, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is planning to redevelop five more colonies — including Lodhi Colony, DIZ Area at Mandir Marg, and Andrews Ganj, all of which were constructed over 4-5 decades ago — as the housing stock there is in a dilapidated state.
The ministry has also undertaken redevelopment of government bungalows and colonies in Lutyens’ Delhi for construction of new flats for Members of Parliament.
The Modi government’s push towards the redevelopment of government housing colonies — especially residential colonies — in central and south Delhi is set to alter the capital’s skyline in the next few years. The old, decrepit government colonies, dotted with single to a maximum of three floors will disappear from the horizon, making way for high-rise development and unlocking prime land parcels for other infrastructure development..
Urban sector experts say this is the way to go to meet the housing shortage in the capital because of a paucity of land.
Prabhakar Singh, former director general of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), told ThePrint: “Most of these residential colonies have low-rise development spread over a large area. Now, maintaining them has become a big challenge, as these were constructed decades back. Redevelopment of these colonies provides an opportunity to optimally utilise the prime land”.
CPWD is the central government’s construction wing and comes under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and, as its director, Prabhakar Singh was involved in the planning of the 7GPRA project and other key redevelopment projects.
In the last few years, the central government has approved several redevelopment projects that will result in the construction of high-rise buildings in the heart of the capital. Urban development experts say these will play a vital role in developing Delhi as a more compact city as low-density development will make way for high-rises to accommodate more people.
ThePrint has contacted the ministry for a comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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Compact development in central Delhi
While the redevelopment of the government colony at New Moti Bagh was completed in 2012 and redevelopment of East Kidwai Nagar (which was completed in 2018) was conceived during the UPA government’s tenure, several large scale redevelopment projects were approved after the NDA government came to power in 2014.
Several major redevelopment projects have been sanctioned since 2014 — namely 7GPRA, New Delhi Railway Station, AIIMS, and the about Rs 13,000-crore Central Vista redevelopment project.
East Kidwai Nagar, completed in 2020, and two of the seven GPRA colonies — Thyagraj Nagar and Mohammdapur both completed last year — have set the ball rolling for high-density development in central and south Delhi.
There are 207 government housing colonies in Delhi. Of these, 14 colonies, such as Dev Nagar, Kali Bari, Andrew Ganj, Sadiq Nagar, and Lodhi Colony, which are mostly in central and south Delhi, can be “potential choices of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for redevelopment in near future”, the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) said in a city level study titled ‘Strategies for redevelopment of GPRA colonies’ in 2020.
The Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC), which comes under the housing and urban affairs ministry, is a statutory body to advise government help preserve, develop, and maintain the aesthetics of Delhi.
After 7 GPRA, the MoHUA is getting the proposals prepared for 2-3 more government colonies, a senior ministry official told ThePrint. Last year, the ministry got a survey of five colonies — Andrews Ganj, DIZ Area (Mandir Marg), Pushp Vihar (south Delhi), Timarpur (north Delhi), and Lodhi Road (Lodhi Colony) — to explore the possibility of redeveloping them.
“The housing stock in these colonies is in a dilapidated condition and redeveloping them is the only viable option. The plan is in the nascent stages and we are getting the proposal prepared for 2-3 colonies in south Delhi,” a senior ministry official who didn’t want to be named told ThePrint.
While new projects are being planned, five other government colonies that are part of the 7GPRA project will be ready by December 2025, said senior CPWD official. Three of these colonies (Nauroji Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, and Netaji Nagar) are being redeveloped by NBCC India — a PSU that specialises in real estate and redevelopment and comes under the MoHUA — the remaining are being developed by the CPWD, ministry officials said.
Over 12,000 dwelling units — mostly single or double-storeyed apartments — in these seven colonies were demolished to make way for over 19,000 flats in high-rises and the mega commercial hub.
K.P. Mahadevaswamy, chairman and managing director of NBCC India, said that through redevelopment, unutilised spaces can be optimally utilised to ensure planned development.
“In 7GPRA, there is no financial burden on the exchequer as the entire project cost will be recovered from the commercial component which is being developed at Nauroji Nagar and parts of Sarojini Nagar,” he said.
According to NBCC India, 23.92 lakh sq.ft.of commercial space has been sold at the World Trade Centre to date for Rs 9,657 crore.
P.S.N. Rao, professor at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and former DUAC chairman, said the lack of sufficient vacant land in Delhi makes redevelopment of existing properties necessary.
“To cater to the increasing demand for built spaces, we have to go vertical and redevelopment is the only option. There are large land parcels which are well-serviced and well connected with metro and road transport,” he said.
With the central government carrying out the redevelopment of its residential colonies, private developers say that there is a need for policy change to support the redevelopment of old residential societies that are mostly three- or four-storeyed in areas such as Dwarka, Rohini, and East Delhi.
Harsh Vardhan Bansal, president of the Delhi chapter of the National Real Estate Development Council — India’s apex real-estate industry body which comes under the MoHUA — told ThePrint that there are several private residential societies in Delhi with the potential to redevelop “but private developers don’t come forward as there is a restriction on increasing the number of dwelling units while redeveloping a residential society”.
“The number of dwelling units will remain the same even after redevelopment,” he said. This, he said, was unlike in Mumbai, where “private developers are allowed to construct more flats along with commercial areas”.
“There is a need to ease the norms for the redevelopment of private areas,” he said.
Housing for MPs
The Modi government has also undertaken a few redevelopment projects in central Delhi — including in Lutyens’ Delhi — to provide housing for Members of Parliament.
In 2020, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated 76 flats (in 13-storeyed buildings) at Dr. Bishambar Das Marg in Lutyens’ Delhi that were constructed after razing eight bungalows that were over eight decades old.
A year earlier, 36 duplex flats were constructed for MPs at North Avenue after demolishing the existing ones.
Currently, the CPWD is constructing over 180 flats (in 23-storeyed buildings) for MPs opposite the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital by redeveloping an old government colony. The project was approved in 2022.
According to CPWD officials, over 245 government residential quarters were razed for the redevelopment project.
While 36 duplex flats were constructed for MPs at North Avenue after demolishing the existing ones in 2019, the central government has yet to finalise the plan for the redevelopment of South Avenue and North Avenue.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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