NEW DELHI: Among the city's civic agencies, 'redevelopment' seems to be a byword for hype and paralysis. Most redevelopment projects never start, and those that do are plagued by cost and time overruns. Take Connaught Place's redevelopment, for instance. After spending six years and Rs 600 crore, and missing five deadlines, the 'completed' project was finally inaugurated in December 2013-three years and some months after the Commonwealth Games, for which it was planned, got over.
The inauguration ceremony naturally left businessmen in the city's most famous market cold as their businesses, which the Metro had helped revive only a few years ago, once again suffered due to the construction mess. "At last, the work came to an end. Traders lost business as implementation is a big problem. We are not against development but not at this cost," said Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Traders' Association.
About 4km away, in Chandni Chowk, traders have stopped losing sleep over the market's redevelopment plan. It has been inaugurated thrice but remains on paper. "We know it won't start as working in an area like Chandni Chowk is not easy," said Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary, Chandni Chowk Sarv Parivar Mandal. "The plans made in air-conditioned rooms are completely unrealistic as there is no provision for relocating the traders. They take approvals from agencies only after the project is inaugurated."
The plan was conceived in 2006, and in the eight years since, no major works of road or electrical maintenance have received sanction. "The road was taken away in March 2011. It was handed back in October. It was taken again when the North Corporation was set to start work," said North Delhi mayor Yogender Chandolia.
While the Chandni Chowk project has not received an official burial so far, the Defence Colony Market redevelopment plan is going to be aborted after a decade-long gestation.TheSouth Corporation has decided to scrap a parking that was a part of this project to make the market pedestrian friendly. "We have asked the officials to at least start the beautification part, if not the parking," said Abhishek Dutt, area councillor.
"Why can't these projects be announced after ironing out issues of land acquisition and relocation, permissions and coordination with other civic agencies? Why are these problems taken up only after the drawings are made and the project approved?" said Sanjay Bhargava.
The Khan Market redevelopment plan had raised hopes of businessmen and shoppers alike but a tussle between rival market associations and delay in land acquisition have not allowed work to start even though the drawings are ready.
"Redevelopment plans are complex as they involve many stakeholders, land acquisition and municipal services," said Sudhir Vohra, urban planner and consultant architect for the project. He said the changes that take place in markets over time, together with the need to augment sewerage, electrical and other civic amenities, require a lot of coordination.
"These processes are slow anywhere in the world and Delhi is no different," said Vohra.
However, the Chandni Chowk Metro station is proof that timely development is possible even in the most impossibly congested and infrastructurally complex areas. Some metres away from the station stands Town Hall that planners have talked about converting into a museum, hotel, park and even a restaurant at different times since 2006. It was only two months ago that the tourism ministry approved a project to turn it into all of these. "No date has been set to commence work as even the tenders have not been floated. The building now houses rats and EVMs," said a North Corporation official.
Now there's a plan to revive Shahdara Lake-at present a barren ground-on the lines of Chandigarh's Sukhna Lake. "We are inviting applications and quotations for tenders. Work will start soon," said an East Corporation official. The stock claims-"work will start soon" and "it will be soon over"-have been bandied already. How 'soon'? The officials don't have an answer.
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