Ghaziabad Development Authority to purchase land for 8 roads in Raj Nagar Extension

The seven identified roads comprise five roads having widths of 45 metres each, and two roads having widths of 24 metres and one having a width of 30 metres

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) will now be able to directly purchase required land from landowners for eight roads listed under the zonal plan for Raj Nagar Extension (RNE), and also be able to sanction maps for residential spaces, GDA officials said Wednesday.

Residents said traffic conditions and connectivity in RNE have gone from bad to worse over the years. (HT Archives/Sakib Ali)

The authority has identified seven roads whose development has been stuck up primarily due to non-availability of land, and the authority wants to purchase land directly from landowners, officials added.

The seven identified roads comprise five roads having widths of 45 metres each, and two roads having widths of 24 metres and one having a width of 30 metres.

“All these eight roads are part of the zonal plan for Raj Nagar Extension, and the GDA board on Tuesday cleared a proposal for direct purchase of land for completing these roads. This will help in streamlining traffic and also provide better connectivity to residents in RNE,” said GDA’s media coordinator Rudresh Shukla.

The supplementary proposal put forward before the GDA board stated that all eight roads face land hurdles in achieving completion.

With the proposal now cleared, the authority will now be able to sanction the map playouts of high-rises and other projects and will also be able to generate revenue therefrom.

The RNE is the only zone under the jurisdiction of the GDA that has a zonal plan prepared. Under the newly-implemented Master Plan 2031, the GDA has carved out 15 zones in Ghaziabad city, Loni, and Modinagar/Muradnagar, and will soon initiate works to get their zonal plans prepared, officials added.

In the 2021 plan, GDA jurisdiction had eight zones.

“The zonal plan for RNE was prepared about 8-10 years ago, and there were legal issues that GDA faced on account of development charges. So, the roads under the zonal plan faced issues. Further, there was no land bank with the authority, and direct purchase of land meant incurring additional investment. So, the development of roads faced hurdles all these years,” said a former town planner from GDA.

Residents said traffic conditions and connectivity in RNE have gone from bad to worse over the years. “The peak hour traffic is chaotic, and the lack of zonal plan roads has also posed challenges for residents in terms of better connectivity. There are people who initially settled here but are now looking towards better-connected areas near NH-9 or in Greater Noida,” said Vikrant Sharma, a resident of Raj Nagar Extension.

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