'Narela is a perfectly planned city'

Even though it is a ghost town, on paper Narela is as much a planned sub-city as Dwarka.

Even though it is a ghost town, on paper Narela is as much a planned sub-city as Dwarka.

HT Image

Located on the northern-most part of the Capital, Narela almost touches the Delhi-Haryana border near Sonepat. The project area is spread over 9,866 hectares, of which 7,365 hectares is planned for housing and 2,501 hectares is planned for green belts — making it one of the greenest housing projects of Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Narela is expected to accommodate about 2.7 lakh households with 12 lakh people. The majority of housing plans are meant for affordable flats with 3,064 janta flats and 2,068 one-bedroom LIG houses. However, DDA has also built 2,891 two-bedroom flats and 140 HIG flats in phase 1 of Narela's expansion.

DDA has planned schools, colleges and hospitals in Narela with land earmarked for them according to Delhi's master plan.

It is another story that any of these are yet to come up.

"Narela is a perfectly planned city and we have earmarked land for all amenities," said DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar. "The schools and hospitals, however, have to be built by the Delhi government."

Apart from residential and commercial centres, an integrated freight complex is also planned in Narela, which is expected to form its focal activity. The existing chemical market and kirana markets in the walled city area would be shifted here.

Narela has a mix of 100-metre, 80-metre and 60-metre wide roads and a dedicated road that would

connect it directly to DDA's fist sub-city, Rohini.