Buildings with parking on ground may get relaxation in height cap

Houses in Delhi could soon go higher. And we are not talking about high rises. Sidhartha Roy reports.

Houses in Delhi could soon go higher. And we are not talking about high rises.

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The Master Plan of Delhi 2021 allows a maximum height of 15 metres for buildings at present.

However, there are plans to amend the rules and raise the cap to 17.5 metres.

This, however, would be applicable to only those buildings that go for stilt parking in the ground floor.

As part of a mid-term review of the master plan, an advisory committee, which is headed by Delhi Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, has recommended that buildings that have a provision of stilt parking should be allowed to go up to 17.5 metres.

"At present, four floors can be accommodated within the 15-metre restriction but that might be difficult if a stilt parking has to be built too," said a senior Delhi Development Authority (DDA) official who didn't wish to be identified.

"By relaxing the cap, people would be encouraged to build stilt parking, which would help in tackling the lack of parking space in most residential areas."

The suggestion to increase the cap to accommodate stilt parking had first come from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The proposal has been approved by the advisory committee and is expected to be taken up in the next meeting of the authority.

After it is approved by DDA, it would be sent to the Union urban development ministry for a final approval and the amendment would be made in the master plan.

Some experts, however, feel that stilt parking can be built even within the present limit of 15 metres.

"Stilt parking doesn't need a very high ceiling and a 15-metre-tall building can have one along with four floors," said a senior official of the building department of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Delhi, essentially a low-rise city, had a height restriction of 11 metres up till the 1990s, which was later raised to 12.5 metre. The height was further relaxed up to 15 metres in 2007 when the Master Plan of Delhi 2021 was notified.