GDA board approves unified Master Plan 2031 for entire Ghaziabad

The authority officials said the proposal for declaring Duhai Depot of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) as a proper station was also approved.

After almost two years of hectic deliberations, the board of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Saturday approved the draft of the unified Master Plan 2031, which encompasses areas of Ghaziabad, Loni and Modinagar/Muradnagar.

The provision of mixed land use will now be available for the Duhai Depot station as well under the 1.5km influence zone. With this, all the eight stations have been incorporated under the new plan with influence zone and also the two special development areas (SDA) along the RRTS corridor. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The authority officials said the proposal for declaring Duhai Depot of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) as a proper station was also approved.

The draft Master Plan 2031 was approved by the board in a meeting held at the office of divisional commissioner (Meerut), the chairperson of the board, and has been sent to state government for final approval.

Once approved, the new plan will replace existing Master Plan 2021. According to officials, the new plan covers an overall developed area of about 33,543.1 hectares, including 18,687.82 hectares in Ghaziabad, 6,874.91 hectares in Modinagar and 7,980.37 hectares in Loni.

The figures also indicate that the prevalent Master Plan 2021 included the overall development of about 23,566.73 hectares.

GDA officials said they have reserved about 35.7% of the area for residential development, 2.09% for commercial activities, 19.8% for recreational facilities and about 16.8% for transport development, among others, in the 2031 plan.

“The three individual plans for Ghaziabad, Loni and Modinagar/Muradnagar were approved as one unified Master Plan 2031 for the entire Ghaziabad district. The unification of the three plans was done to remove any hurdles in the planned development. The board finally gave its approval on Saturday. Under the plan, we have made provisions for new truck and bus terminals, widening of roads and beautification and also solid waste processing sites that are far from residential areas. Two logistics hubs have also been proposed under the plan,” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, GDA.

Going by the GDA figures, the new 2031 plan will focus more on industrial development which has a share of 10.1% in terms of area, which is higher than the 7-8% limit set by the Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines (URDPFIG).

Likewise, the recreational facilities have a share of 19.8%, against a 14-16% limit set by the URDPFIG. The share of transportation has also gone up to 16.8% against the URDPFIG limit of 12-14%.

Officials said they have also made provisions for development of extra green areas beyond the specified limits in order to tackle the issue of air pollution. The officials however did not divulge these figures.

Singh said the board also approved the status of a full-fledged station for the Duhai Depot of the RRTS project. Now, all eight RRTS stations in Ghaziabad have the formal status of station and provision of mixed land use development in a 1.5km radius of these stations.

“The provision of mixed land use will now be available for the Duhai Depot station as well under the 1.5km influence zone. With this, all the eight stations have been incorporated under the new plan with influence zone and also the two special development areas (SDA) along the RRTS corridor,” Singh said.

The two SDAs are 510.56 hectares in Guldhar and 549.5 hectares in Duhai. These two areas will also have provisions for a higher floor area ratio and mixed land use like the influence zones. The Uttar Pradesh government’s TOD policy, notified in 2022, have defined TOD zones, or mixed land use zones, for the development of residential, commercial, and other types of constructions.