Individual plans for Ghaziabad, Loni, Modinagar to become unified under Master Plan 2031

Ghaziabad Development Authority officials said the draft Master Plan 2031 is likely to be approved as a unified plan on Saturday

The officials of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) have finalised individual drafts of Master Plan 2031 for Ghaziabad, Loni and Modinagar/Muradnagar and these will now be unified to become a single Master Plan 2031, officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

GDA has also proposed that Duhai Depot be given the status of a station. Areas near the depot will become a transit-oriented development (TOD) zone and these areas will have provision of mixed land use and higher floor area ratio. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The GDA has been preparing the draft of the three master plans to replace the existing 2021 plans. The GDA board in September approved the final draft of Modinagar/Muradnagar and asked the authority to invite public objections/suggestions for zoning regulations for Ghaziabad and Loni besides inviting objections for declaring Duhai Depot (a train maintenance depot) as a proper station under the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS).

“The objections/suggestions were invited by the GDA as directed by the board and these have been incorporated/disposed of. The final draft of the plan is now ready and will be placed before the board in its meeting scheduled on Saturday. We will place the three drafts as one unified Master Plan 2031. This has been done to remove ambiguities and overlaps and to simplify development processes across Ghaziabad district,” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, GDA.

The official said public objections were also invited for Duhai Depot and it has been proposed that the depot be given the status of a full-fledged RRTS station.

“We have proposed that Duhai Depot be given the status of a station. Areas near the depot will become a transit-oriented development (TOD) zone and these areas will have provision of mixed land use and higher floor area ratio for more constructions/development. All these proposals will be placed before the board for a final approval,” Singh said.

In Ghaziabad, the 17km RRTS project has seven stations in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Muradnagar, Modinagar (North) and Modinagar (South) and Duhai Depot will become the eighth station once approved.

All seven RRTS stations in Ghaziabad already have their influence zones. Also, the GDA has defined two special development areas (SDAs) – 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.

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.These have been specified as areas within a 1.5km radius of RRTS stations and a 500m radius of mass transit lines.

The officials have incorporated the eight RRTS stations and two SDAs in draft Master Plan 2031 which is likely to be approved as a unified plan on Saturday.