Delhi’s Heritage TDR Policy – looming in uncertainty
Delhi's heritage TDR policy is a step in the right direction, faced with several hurdles
Delhi, with its web of tangible and intangible heritage woven into the contemporary urban fabric, presents a unique case. The city’s magnificent monuments – marvels of architecture and town planning – are a gift from the various rulers who conquered it and made it their own. Home to 1662 officially notified heritage structures - 170 are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, 33 by the state archaeological department and the remaining 1459 (88%), mostly owned by private entities and institutions, are protected by the urban local bodies. The Unified Building Bye-Laws-2016 place the sole responsibility of conservation and maintenance of such structures with their owners. However, restrictions imposed by the heritage regulations creates a sense of insecurity and despair among the owners who have started feeling the burden of the ‘heritage’ tag. In this light, the latest draft of the Master Plan of Delhi-2041 brings some relief for Delhi’s privately-owned municipal heritage in the form of the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) incentives for promoting conservation and maintenance of the heritage structures. TDR is a cost-effective mechanism of compensating or incentivising private landowners for the loss of their development rights due to restrictions enforced by the development control regulations. The concept of TDR is not new to India, cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad among others already have heritage TDR policies in their planning framework.
Delhi not the forebearer of heritage planning in India
Despite having a millennium worth of heritage, the historic capital is not the forebearer in bringing heritage and urban conservation into its planning framework. Mumbai was the first city to notify heritage regulations in 1995 to protect and conserve the heritage structures within the city limits. These regulations mandated municipal corporations or competent authorities to notify heritage properties, prepare separate regulations and incentives for conservation, and protect them from demolition and alteration. It also mandated for the constitution of a ‘Heritage Conservation Committee’ by the state government to act as an advisory to the competent authority. Using the precedent of Mumbai, a similar set of regulations were notified by Hyderabad in 1995 and Ahmedabad in 2007. In 2004, Delhi included a similar set of heritage regulations by amending section 23 of the Delhi Building Bye-Laws-1983 vide a notification by the Ministry of Urban Housing and Poverty Alleviation. Compared to other Indian cities – Delhi’s regulations did not include TDR as an incentive, relying only on the relaxation in building use to facilitate conservation and adaptive reuse of the properties. Mumbai, on the other hand, adopted the TDR policy in its development control regulations in 1991; by the time heritage regulations were in place the city already had a functioning TDR market with designated ‘receiving zones’.
What is the new heritage TDR policy in Delhi all about?
TDR was first mentioned in the Delhi Master Plan 2021 for the redevelopment and densification of existing urban areas, however, the mention lacked the necessary details and implementation efforts. But this time, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has taken the responsibility of providing the TDR certificate, with the provision to prepare a detailed implementation process within six months of the notification of the master plan. MPD-2041 draft comprises a section on TDR (Section 22.19), which includes the calculation of TDR value, location of receiving zones, maximum permissible TDR limit etc. The provisions of heritage TDR are mentioned in section 6.2.6 of MPD-2041 while the TDR receiving zones have been identified in section 22.19.
The policy makes clear that the TDR receiving zones will be the ones where DDA wants to encourage new development and densification through redevelopment. The pace and intensity (utilised FSI) of development will be critical in determining the fate of heritage TDR. Further, the heritage property owners have to overcome several other hurdles before reaping the benefits of the TDR incentives.
Delhi’s development strategy has evolved significantly in the recent past. The inclusion of TDR is a step in the right direction. The success of including heritage TDR in MPD-2041 is contingent upon numerous factors. From policy semantic in the final version of the MPD to quality of implementation, heritage TDR is long overdue in the national capital and still a distant reality. Authorities must take lessons from other cities to make their policy work.
Congratulations Arun! It was a great read and looking forward to the second part :)
Thank you so much Ramit. Yes second part is coming soon.