GHAZIABAD: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s focus on the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy in her Budget speech is set to bring rapid transformation in the urban landscape of Noida and Ghaziabad, which has several projects lined up over the next few years.
UP implemented its own transit policy in 2022. Under it, areas within 500m of intra-city mass transit systems, such as metro corridors running in a particular district and bus routes, are considered a TOD zone. In case of intercity transit projects, such a rapid rail and metro, the area expands to 1.5km on both sides of the corridors.
One of the primary intentions of the TOD policy is to encourage properties — both residential and commercial — along the transit routes so that people can walk to the stations and use public transport as much as possible.
The policy is all the more crucial for Noida because of the international airport in Jewar and other allied transit systems to connect it with other cities, such as metro, expressway, pod taxis and rapid rail. For Ghaziabad, the development will focus around the 17km rapid rail section, which is already operational. By next year, the entire Namo Bharat corridor — from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Meerut — is likely to become operational. Those developing projects in TOD zones — where mixed land use will be allowed — will get certain benefits. For instance, FAR will see a 33-50% increase from the current 1.5 and the process of issuing licences will be expedited too.
Ghaziabad, which is likely to have a 45km Namo Bharat corridor till Modinagar South this year, is eyeing an annual revenue of Rs 1,500 crore from projects in the TOD zone. “If the FAR increases, revenue from mixed land use in TOD zones will see an almost 200% rise,” said RK Singh, Ghaziabad’s former district magistrate who also held the post of GDA vice-chairperson.
Singh was closely associated with the framing of the 2013 masterplan, which had incorporated the TOD policy.
“Revenue collected from areas around the rapid rail network will be divided between GDA and the NCR Transport Corporation, which is building the corridor. GDA, in turn, can use these funds on its development projects,” he added.
As of now, 650 hectares near Sahibabad station, 477 hectares along Ghaziabad, 818 hectares near Guldhar, 720 off Duhai and 376 near Muradnagar are some of the TOD zones in the district.
“By 2054, NCRTC and GDA plan to recover the project cost of over 30,000 crore. They have identified five heads — stamp duty, external development charge, FAR, purchasable FAR and developing areas within 1.5km of the rapid rail line as a commercial hub,” said Asheesh Shivpuri, GDA’s former chief town planner.
Noida hopes to benefit from a 72km rapid rail corridor to the Jewar airport via Greater Noida West and a 28km pod taxi/light rail from Pari Chowk. In the Yamuna Expressway Authority’s master plan for the next 20 years, areas within 500m of the Neo Metro route will be considered a TOD zone.
Like in Ghaziabad, FAR in TOD zones will be higher as well. For the industrial sector, FAR in other parts of the city ranges from 1-1.5 but is likely to be 2.5 off transit systems. Similarly, In the commercial category, FAR can be upto 4.
Prabhakar Kumar, business head (urban) at Rudrabhishek Enterprises — which formulated the 2041 master plan for the Greater Noida Authority — said revenue generated from the increased FAR, taxes and other bills is expected to increase by 60-70%.
The impact, he added, will be more pronounced in areas where commercial and residential development is concentrated, primarily near the stations. “In areas along the Yamuna Expressway, where development is yet to take place, TOD will have a more significant impact,” he said.
