New Delhi: The public works department (PWD) has submitted a fresh plan to the planning body UTTIPEC for the termination of Barapullah phase II on Aurobindo Marg. The traffic police had objected to the initial plan of constructing three loops on Aurobindo Marg as it would have caused a traffic nightmare on the arterial road.

However, UTTIPEC officials foresee many difficulties with the new plan, which suggests three alternatives. The plan, which is based on a traffic study of the stretch, does not take into account rapid development in the area, including an upcoming Metro station and a central government scheme to develop Kidwai Nagar, and would eventually cause a traffic mess in front of Dilli Haat, said officials.

“Any such proposal has to take into account the future development of the area. The matter will be discussed with the traffic police and other stakeholders before a decision is made,” said UTTIPEC director Ashok Bhattacharjee.

PWD has submitted three alternatives to the earlier proposal. The first is an elevated road for traffic descending from Barapullah to take a right turn towards Jor Bagh. The second alternative, an elevated road, caters to traffic coming from the AIIMS flyover and headed towards Barapullah or Jor Bagh. The road will split into two directions: one for traffic continuing straight towards Jor Bagh and the other will allow traffic to take a right turn to climb the Barapullah elevated road. Commuters will be able to proceed on Barapullah towards Mayur Vihar or use any of the six upcoming loops in the Rs 385-crore phase II to exit the elevated road, added officials. “We prefer this alternative as it takes care of most needs based on the traffic study,” said a senior PWD official.

The third alternative proposes a long elevated U-turn from the Dilli Haat side to cross over to the other side and climb Barapullah towards Mayur Vihar.

However, while Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is already constructing a Metro station for the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar line that will connect Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar, a special pilot project is being done at Kidwai Nagar under the central government scheme of General Pool Residential Accommodation.

“The Kidwai Nagar project is part of a scheme to develop low-height residential areas. If the elevated road comes up in this fashion, the colony will be fractured from INA. Plans are being worked out for traffic outflow from Kidwai Nagar,” said a government official.

The Metro extension is also expected to increase pedestrian footfall in the area, and the agency will be developing the area with transit-oriented-development (TOD) principles which takes into account at least a kilometre area of the Metro influence zone.

Source: Times of India

What else will change in the city? Will it be more unsafe to step out at night? Will the city choke on jams and noxious air? A team of architects and town planners launched a unique online project recently that aims to recreate Delhi in 2050 with inputs from citizens.

Dutchman Anne Feenstra, working with the architecture platform arch i, started Delhi 2050 in 2010. “Before approaching the government, we wanted to gather all facts, figures and opinions,” he said. The team recently contacted National Capital Planning Board, Delhi Development Authority and the urban development ministry which showed interest. IIT Delhi, School of Social Sciences at JNU, School of Planning and Architecture and Indian Institute for Human Settlements are generating data for the project.

The process is simple. Anyone interested in participating may log on to the Delhi 2050 website. Here, infographics compare Delhi with other international cities for various parameters. Delhi has very high particulate matter pollution compared to Milan which has very high nitrogen dioxide emissions. “We are trying to see how Delhi is faring compared to other cities with similar population density and size. We cannot compare Delhi with New York or London but it can be compared to Sao Paolo, Milan and Madrid,” Feenstra said.

The team has developed a number of demo models. The ‘urban harvest’ model explores how a residential colony in Mayur Vihar can be completely decentralized. To harness solar energy, the infrastructure is covered with a membrane of titanium dioxide which can also harvest rainwater. Vertical farms have been installed on this micro-model which use hydroponics to reduce water intake by 1/20th of its current demand. The future societies living in this imaginary model would comprise farmers who live and work there.

The live-and-work paradigm is also in force in the Life Street model which is trying to make Khirki Village a safe and friendly neighborhood by making it a space where people put up and work and there is activity on streets even at night. Another project, Aap Ki Sadak, has involved residents of Malviya Nagar, Khirki Extension and Sheikh Sarai in developing a consensus plan for improvement of public transport. The data collated from public consultations and online inputs will be presented to agencies in June.

The website has detailed information on the urban heat island effect (in which temperatures of built up areas are higher) in Delhi. “These areas demand more energy because their air conditioning needs are way higher. The temperature difference can be up to eight degrees,” said Feenstra.

Delhi 2050 is the only Indian architecture project part of 26 international projects to be presented at the fifth International Architecture Biennale 2012 in Rotterdam.

Source: Times of India

New Delhi: When it comes to meeting renewable energy targets, the capital is among the worst performers. A report released by Greenpeace and Infraline Energy on Monday — which compares the strides made by 29 states to increase the share of renewable power in the total supply — shows Delhi’s lack of ambition on this front. This is despite having a per capita consumption almost twice the national average.

According to the report, Powering Ahead on Renewables: Leaders and Laggards, Delhi met 0% of its renewable purchase obligation (RPO) in 2012, while Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Karnataka overshot their targets. RPO is a government regulation that makes it obligatory for state electricity regulatory commissions to buy a certain percentage of electricity generated from renewable sources. The targets were set by different states in 2010 to achieve the National Action Plan on Climate Change requirement of 15% renewable energy supply in India by 2020.

Delhi’s installed capacity of solar energy is about 2.53MW and that of bioenergy is 16MW, which makes up 0.3% of the city’s energy supply. This is a meagre share compared to the pace at which other states are harnessing renewable energy and reducing dependence on coal. “As the national capital, Delhi should have been a trendsetter. But the city doesn’t even have a policy on renewable energy, ” said author of the report, Abhishek Pratap.

While some projects, including a 5MW solar power plant at Dadri and a 54kW solar grid connected power plant at Bawana, are in the pipeline, their contribution will be miniscule as Delhi has not invested in offgrid solar projects, says Pratap. “Delhi has tremendous potential for creating solar rooftops and generating biomass energy from surrounding rural areas. It may generate up to 300MW of renewable energy, but that needs to be assessed. It has huge open spaces and Metro stations that can tap solar energy,” added Pratap.

The report recommends that RPO directives be made mandatory by the power ministry with provision for a penalty. It finds the RPO targets extremely ‘conservative’ as the assessment of renewable energy potential is not proper.

Renewable energy is not costly. The report projects that a higher target should have marginal effect on tariff from 2013 to 2020, with an increase of 15-30 paise nationally.

Source: Times of India

New Delhi: An extra year in Delhi University, as envisaged in the new four-year undergraduate programme, from the new session, may come at an additional cost of up to Rs 1.07 lakh if one is staying in a college or university hostel.

And in case of a private paying guest accommodation, the entire affair can be dearer by as much as Rs 2.27 lakh. The additional year in the new programme, many fear, will put a considerable financial strain on students. Outstation candidates will be the affected the most. “We’ve travelled 2,000km to study because we don’t have such institutes back home and some families have to spend half their monthly income on a DU education,” says Chinglen Khumukcham who just graduated from DU with a BA Honours in History.

“My father has a very small business and earns Rs 15,000 a month. He was sending a large chunk of it to me.” Accommodation is expensive. He says rent for a single room is Rs 6,000 at least without food and utilities. For students staying at a distance from their colleges, the commuting expenditure has also to be accounted for. “Many families can afford to send only one child but with the new structure they’ll have to think twice even about that,” he says.

Girls prefer to stay in the same area as their college. The rates for college hostels vary with the old ones being far more economical. Those which have been newly-constructed or the ones that were renovated for Commonwealth Games are considerably more expensive. An extra year in one of those amounts to an extra expense of Rs 80,000 – Rs 90,000. Private arrangements – typically in the form of paying guest accommodations and flat or roomshares —aren’t any cheaper.

Deepak Sethi, a final year student at Kirori Mal College, says “even a bad PG in a bad area will charge Rs. 5,000 per month. The demand for PGs is higher from girls than for boys and security is also an issue for them. A good PG can cost as much as Rs 12,000,” he says, fearing that the cost of an extra year of study will deter students from financially weak backgrounds. And these rates are not fixed. Maya John of Centre for Struggling Women adds that the slightest change in the regular schedule of DU results in an increase in rent. “It increased when the Metro touched DU and again during CWG,” she recalled.

Then there are books, stationary, cost of travel and tuition fee. Students and teachers wonder what kind of increase the new elements, including the foundation and value-education courses, in the 4-year programme will translate into. Fee structures are not available yet, but if that of the Cluster Innovation Centre, which runs four-year programmes of ‘innovative’ courses, is any indication, the new programme won’t come cheap.

Source: Times of India

“SARE Homes caters to the aspirations of the middle-income group by offering quality, community-housing at strategically identified locations across India. The company has invested in eight integrated projects in major cities like Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Amritsar and Indore, which represent nearly 36.5 million sq ft of developable area. SARE is on a highgrowth mode and aims to double its area under development in the next three years,” said David Walker, executive director of SARE Homes.

He also said that “We are extremely enthused by the overwhelming response to our project in Gurgaon, and are very happy to launch the fourth phase, Green ParC-II. SARE Homes plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore in developing real estate projects over the next five years in India. The scale of our business will enable us to deliver best-in-class services to our customers and commit the resources to ensure on-time delivery of our projects. SARE Homes, promoted by the Duet Group, is a unique real estate investment and development company, as far as the project funding is concerned. We are funded internally by foreign direct investment; hence, our projects are assured of uninterrupted progress.”

The township is placed in a sategically convenient location on the Gurgaon growth corridor, on the arterial 60metre-wide road, just 40 minutes from the IGI Airport and in close proximity to the Dwarka and KMP Expressways, and the industrial hub of IMT, Manesar. It lies within the NCR, home to major multinational IT-ITeS, automobile and manufacturing companies.

Vikram O Datta, director (marketing and sales) of SARE Homes, said, “In Gurgaon, SARE has invested nearly Rs 200 crore, and has sold more than 1,600 apartments till date. Homebuyers, as well as investors in this region, are very savvy and we are confident they will respond positively to our latest offering.”

The township consist of different housing, lowrise, midrise and highrise group housing in Ground + 4, stilt + 7 and stilt + 19 formats. Green ParC-II consists of 3 and 4 bedroom apartments, ranging from 1,261-2,226 sq ft in stilt + 7 and stilt +19 towers. The towers have a unique design, with beautiful balconies allowing for maximum privacy.

Each apartments faces the lush 7-acre central greens, which has a jogging track, children’s play area, a cycling track, an open-air amphitheatre, a skating rink, putting greens, a feature forest, beautifully landscaped water bodies, and a 35,000 sq ft clubhouse, one of the largest in Gurgaon. This project has been designed by Rajiv Khanna & Associates, an architectural firm. The price of these apartments starts from Rs 55 lakh.

“While launching a project, we give importance to the lifestyle of our customers in that particular demography and their objective of maximizing the value for their investment. An exciting differentiating factor of Green ParC-II will be the sky deck, which is new in the Gurgaon market,” said Vineet Relia, the chief operating officer of SARE Homes

News Source : Times of India

The fair has attracted some 1,300 exhibitors from 26 countries are participating in the nine-day-long festival. For this year, it will be more than just a book fair. the fair has much to do with Delhi, which turned 100 in December last year. A glimpse of 100 years of Delhi as the Capital of India has been displayed at a special pavilion in the fair.

The rich history of Delhi has been showcased in in pictures sourced from various libraries, including the British Library, by Roli Books, the organiser of the pavilion. The exhibits includes pictures of Lord King George V visiting Delhi for coronation in 1911, light locomotives that started here during the same period and the gates in the city are on display.

Pramod kapoor, publisher, Roli Books said, “Not everybody can afford expensive coffee-table books on the Capital. This pavilion gives Delhiites an opportunity to know the history of their city.“  The pavilion’s theme is based on two books published by Roli Books -`Red fort to Raisina Hills’ and `New Delhi: Making of a Capital’.

The fair will also include exhibits of more than 100 rare works, most of which have never been displayed in the country before. More than a dozen non-profit organisations, along with government-aided film organisations, universities and trade bodies, are supporting the event. Kapil Sibal, the Internet and technology, human resource and development minister will addressing the crowd said that “India is only country that publishes books in over 40 languages. Despite the growth of Internet and technology, books will not take a back seat, instead they compliment each other.”

Earlier the station was proposed to be named Shalimar Place, is expected to register a ridership of about 7,000 commuters in 2016 -when Delhi Metro’s phase 3 stations will start operations. Anuj Dayal, spokesperson of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said, Badli Mor Metro station will be the first ever station to be designed in such a way that the station structure will have provision for expansion in Phase 4 as well. The foundation of the station is being laid in such a way that it will be able to take the load of the two platforms, which will cater to Phase 3 and 4 lines.“

In the Phase 4, the station will facilitate interchange with the proposed Mukundpur-Janakpuri West section, which will then connect the currently operational Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon corridor with the proposed Mukundpur -Yamuna Vihar line and Janakpuri East-Botanical Garden corridor. Both these corridors are being constructed in Phase 3.

The first two floors , which will be lower than the road level will be used for property development as per the plan. The third floor (which will have a direct link with the road through a foot-over bridge) will be concourse and the platform will be above it. The Phase 4 platform will come up above the phase 3 platform. Tenders for this unique station structure have been floated and are in the evaluation process.

News Source : Hindustan Times

The construction for this multi level parking lot took two years to complete and cost around Rupees 52.83 crore. The parking is of multi-level and the three underground level is designed to fit more than 720 cars will the surface parking area will cater some 300 cars. Just within a few days, this facility will be open for the public to use.

An MCD official said that, “Two floors with a capacity of about 250 cars each will be thrown open first. There is still some pending work on the other two floors which will take some time to be operational.“  Speaking on the occasion, Abbi said that the parking will help in easing parking problems. She also said that, “The old city is famous among tourists who come to visit Jama Masjid and Red Fort. The area is also being used as a commercial hub which leads to the movement of large volume of vehicle. However, the scant space for parking was worrisome and therefore, the need arose to go for multi-level underground parking.“  Abbi pointed that around 1000 new vehicle are added on Delhi roads on a daily basis and the problem of parking is a major cause of concern in Delhi. The Mayor said that by March end, as many as five parking projects will be completed. According MCD officials, the parking has been designed for optimum space utilisation and has been made earthquake resistant.

News Source : Hindustan Times

At present, MCD is sanctioning only fresh building plans in approved colonies online, under the new procedure. For alterations and any additional constructions, plans have to be submitted manually. Both architects and MCD officials admit that this project has the potential of checking graft and ensuring structurally safer buildings in the city but the decision to suddenly stop accepting applications manually has not been received very well by the general public.

Neeraj Dhingra, an architect empanelled with MCD said that “They should have allowed both manual and online submission initially. People, architects and, most importantly, MCD officials at the zonal level need to get used to the system. It is a big project and technical errors are bound to creep in. They stopped the manual system without streamlining the new system. It is a very time consuming process.’’

The maximum number of applications related to building plans was received from areas like the Shahdara (South), West, South, Central and Rohini  and these zones are the worst hit areas. An average of 40-45 applications we received under the simplified procedure, no plans were sanctioned in the month of January in Shahdara.

One of the reason why general public is not happy with the new system is because there are only 403 architects registered with MCD for online submission and people are having a hard time getting their plans approved. MCD officials say that these architects have hiked their charges arbitrarily.

An MCD official said “Earlier, people could get the building plan made from any architect, but now they have to get it made from the empanelled ones. People are facing a lot of inconvenience.’’ Why are a majority of architects fighting shy of the system? It’s a mix of old habits dying hard, lack of familiarity with the new system and scepticism.

Many architects are also complaining that they are facing serious problems related to the serves, especially while uploading the plans in the website. Munish Pandit, who is empanelled with MCD said that “One has to load and check the plan several times before all the errors are removed. MCD should have a software to check the errors in real time. We can download the software. A lot of time is wasted in uploading the documents several times. Often their server doesn’t work and the applications crash midway.”

Y S Mann, director, press and information, MCD stated that “is Monday, the server was down for three-four hours. “We were carrying out checking of the server to rectify the errors.’’ Officials admit that architects are taking a lot of time in rectifying errors. In some cases, they have had to upload the plan at least 12-15 times. An MCD official with the building department also said that “The software for sanctioning building plan online doesn’t accept any deviation from the building bylaws and Master Plan of Delhi-2021. Even a 0.1% change in any parameter will generate an error.’’

Mann also said that “Not many people would have opted for online had we kept the manual submission open. We are training architects in uploading the plans and rectifying errors.’’ While the plan has to be applied for online, the civic agency demands a hard copy of all the documents, including the plan, to be submitted at the zonal offices. “We can’t sanction the plan until the architect or owner has submitted a hard copy of all the relevant documents in our office,’’ said an MCD official.

News Source : Times of India

Delhi Metro at present covers around 34km in South Delhi, with the Phase 3 which is is scheduled to be completed by 2016, the DMRC plans to spread the network to 35km more in the district. The Delhi Metro serves to around two lakh commuters from south Delhi daily and wonce the phase is complete, it will serves around four lakh commuters daily.

Two main corridors of phase 3 -Yamuna Vihar-Mukundpur and Janakpuri west-Botanical Garden corridor -will pass through south Delhi, which covers 41 per cent of the total Capital area. The district has a population of 23 lakh. South Delhi, considered to be the most posh area, is one of the nine historical districts in the Capital. Localities such as Greater Kailash, CR Park, Alaknanda, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Defence Colony, New Friends Colony, Gulmohar Park, Gulmohar Enclave and Vasant Kunj are situated here.

Anuj Dayal, N spokesperson, DMRC said “In phase III, south Delhi residents are going to benefit immensely. With 26 new Metro stations, covering all strategic locations and four interchange of facilities, almost all parts of the  district will be connected by Metro.“ Dayal also added that There is no Metro interchange facility in the district. In phase 3 project, interchange stations have been planned at INA, Lajpatagar, Hauz Khas and Kalkaji Mandir, said DMRC officials.”Metro will link south Delhi to IGIA, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida. Besides, it will provide direct connectivity to post-residential areas, markets and educational institutes. ”

News Source : Hindustan Times