Naveen S Garewal & Sumedha Sharma
Haryana has surprised all by announcing that a new city will be established in the area adjoining Gurugram under the Manesar Development Plan 2040. The civilisation of Haryana dates back to the Indus Valley times and up till now there has been no planned development of such a large expanse. It appears to be a utopian and unrealistic idea, as the city is proposed to be set up over 50,000 hectares, mainly without acquiring an inch of land.
The proposed area where the city will come up falls in the eco-sensitive Aravali zone, as well as in the dark water zone. Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) Ltd is expected to finalise consultants for the new city next week, and later decide its name and other modalities, including land pooling etc.
“The objective is to develop a city that is socially inclusive, ecologically responsive, culturally stimulating and economically relevant,” states the government. The idea of the new city, according to highly placed sources, was born while discussions were being held to decide ways to utilise areas around the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway starting at Kundli (Sonepat) and joining the Western Peripheral Expressway, near Palwal.
The initial concept was to set up utility centres and commercial hubs along the expressways. According to grapevine, some people with landholdings in the area pushed for expanding the scope of the proposal and exploring the possibility of a city. Though the search for consultants to draft the master plan is on, there are many unanswered questions regarding the project and its viability.
According to the proposal of the government, the city will be spread over about 50,000 hectares to the south of the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, falling near the Gurugram Manesar Urban Area. However, how the government proposes to make this huge amount of land available without acquisition, as it claims, remains a mystery. Even with land pooling no individual has landholding larger than a few hundred acres. Besides, Haryana still does not have a law for land pooling in place. It has so far notified only a land pooling policy, which allows landowners to willingly offer land to the government, but given a huge disparity between government compensation and real market rates there are not many who are interested in land pooling.
In fact, most of the land in the area has already been leased out to industrial players for construction of warehouses for as long as 50 years. Even if the state government finds a way to get so big land, it still will have to work out resources to pay for it. The vision of the government makes no mention of a proposed budget or how to spend finances. According to experts, the budget for the project will be about 3 per cent to 5 per cent of the GDP; the mobilisation of such a huge amount takes at least 10 years. Then it’s not just about arranging land but building the dream city and providing infrastructure there in the absence of a statutory framework.
The city proposed to be bigger than state capital Chandigarh, but smaller than Gurugram will have to steer clear of the Supreme Court directive of not to disturb the adjoining Aravali eco zone. Furthermore, Gurugram and adjoining areas in Haryana are water deficit and are unable to cater to the needs of the existing population. The area falls in the dark water zone and by the time the new city comes up, if at all, the existing water crisis would have deepened drastically.
The state government is yet to decide under what existing laws and norms the city will be built or managed or the agency that will be responsible for it. With so many vital questions to be answered, it makes one wonder why the state government chose to announce the project in its penultimate year of rule? Also, where is the need of a city when the area is already developing fast and infrastructure could have been strengthened even otherwise to further strengthen the Gurugram-Manesar circuit.
Environmentalist Jitender Bhadana says, “The area being talked about falls in the aqua dark zone. Getting clean drinking water is the biggest challenge for the region, and we are one of the poorest in management of water resources. Setting up a city is not just about constructing a few buildings but providing basic amenities; water being the foremost. The government needs extensive planning even before it thinks about such an endeavour or we may lose our already depleting resources within the next two years”.
The water table in the area of the proposed city has been depleting by 2 to 3 metres every year, according to the findings of the Central Water Commission (CWC). Again, records state that the Aravali range, which is in the vicinity of the proposed site, is depleting by around 15 per cent annually. According to experts, if the project materialises, it will result in loss of about half of the foothill vegetation. The construction of a new city in this area will also bring the region under the threat of flash floods in the absence of natural water drains. The Niti Aayog has forecast zero ground water levels for Delhi and its extension Gurugram by 2020. The state government has no solution to deal with the impending water crisis.
No government official is willing to make a statement about the project that is at an exploratory stage. However, off the record they claim that the suggestion came from some bureaucrats, who have over time gone silent sensing various difficulties involved. They prefer to dodge more obvious questions such as will there be a dedicated traffic corridor to Delhi or will the Jaipur-Gurugram highway get further choked; how many villages will be impacted; who will bring in the land; how much money is expected to be spent on the city; where is the need to have a new town; why is the government inclined to expand infrastructure towards Manesar instead of towards Sonepat.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has termed the proposal as a mere gimmick with an eye on the next state Assembly elections. He says, “This is nothing but a figment of imagination of the state government that it is publicising so that the rates of the properties of its supporters in that area increase. If a city was to be built, why the government did not work on it in the last four years? Why is it announcing the project now when it has no concrete achievements to show? The government has failed to fulfil the infrastructural needs of both Manesar and Gurugram and solve their issues but still it talks of setting up a new city and that too on the PPP model”.
Hooda says, “Till date the Karnal airport in the Chief Minister’s own constituency has not be commercialised or developed but he still talks of building a big city. Before making such an announcement, the Chief Minister should let us know from where he would get land, water, electricity and other amenities for his fantasy world. The state government functions like an event management company and finds new ways (the city proposal is an example) to get media attention. It's the last year of the BJP government, so it should try and fulfil at least one promise that the party had made in its manifesto”.
Real Estate consultant Rajeev Khandelwal sees the new city proposal as a move to give a boost to the realty sector in the area. He says, “The announcement of a new city will surely hike realty prices in that area but the very idea may not last long owing to current confusion over key issues. The PPP model may have been successful in localised projects like setting up diagnostic labs in hospitals but it may not be successful in large projects. And here they talk of building an entire city on the PPP model. For anybody to get interested, he needs to have a clear idea about investment, procedure of land procurement, statutory framework of functioning, government assistance and future development prospects. With no major realty or revenue generation avenues, the proposed city may not excite realtors”.
“The KMP Expressway has been completed and so is the EPR Expressway. Within days, people will start applying for CLU for developing residential and commercial areas. So, we thought why not harness this potential to ensure sustainable development. The picture will be clearer once consultants are appointed and we have the 2040 draft plan in place,” says Narhari Banger, Additional Managing Director, HSIIDC, who is also the nodal officer for the bids.
The new city
- To be spread over 50,000 hectares approx
- Larger than Chandigarh 11,400 hectares
- Smaller than Gurugram 73,200 hectares
- Located to the south of the NCR of Delhi.
- It shares boundary with the Gurugram-Manesar urban area on the north and Aravali hills on the northeast.
- The National Highway-48 (earlier NH-8) defines the western boundary of the city
- Eastern and southern boundaries of the city are currently surrounded by agricultural land
- To be well connected to neighbouring urban centres through the National Highway-48, state highways-13 and 28, KMP Expressway
Official speak
We have floated an expression of interest for the appointment of a consultant. We think it is absolutely doable without acquiring land by innovative models of land pooling. As of now we don’t have the specifics, be it infrastructure or finances and that is the reason we are getting consultants on board. The population of Gurugram has increased by almost 50 per cent and by 2021 there will be 100 per cent increase over the 2001 level. The increased population has put pressure on existing resources and infrastructure that can’t be stretched beyond a limit. The new city will be an alternative that will ease pressure on the millennium city by being its equal cousin. — Rajesh Khullar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2tIDEZJ
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