Water Woes Force DDA To Stay Put; New Housing Scheme Likely Only Next Year

Water levels might have reached dangerous levels this monsoon taking several lives, but, unmistakably, Delhi is struggling to meet its water demands.

While releasing its summer action plan in April this year, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) decided to increase its water-treatment capacity to 916 million gallons daily (MGD). However, lack of raw water forced the agency to limit this supply to 860 MGD while the total demand of the city's 20-million population stood at 1,200 MGD.

Such has been the national capital’s water woes that the Delhi Development Authority’s new power-savvy vice-chairman has been forced to put on hold the agency’s plans to launch any new housing scheme despite the fact that over 48,000 units are in various stages of construction Delhi—30,000 of these units are almost-possession-ready.

Tarun Kapoor, who took charge of the development agency on October 2 after his long stint with Himachal Pradesh’s power department, has told media he would launch a new scheme only after the DDA is able to resolve the crisis.

“A lot of flats are either ready or in the final stages of construction. But, there is a water problem in these areas, where are trying to get water and other services. We are already in touch with the DJB to address the problem at the earliest,” Kapoor was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying.  

After its 2017 scheme, the DDA was expected to launch it in 2018. However, now it is almost certain that the DDA might be able to launch it only in 2019 or later. Most of the stock lying with the development agency is the units that were returned by buyers of 2014 housing scheme—it is worth mention here that most buyers retuned the units citing lack of basic infrastructure wand water supply-related issues. The units are speared across localities of Dwarka, Narela and Rohini. Most residents in Narela and Rohini depend on water tanks to meet their daily drinking water needs.

When the DDA does decide to launch the new scheme, providing low-cost housing would be its key focus area, considering “there is a big gap between the demand for low-cost housing and the existing number of houses”.

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