Reckless construction bane of Millennium City
Geetanjali Gayatri
Gurugram, January 21
Reckless construction, a changing skyline, shrinking green cover, cramped streets and no parking spaces—Gurugram’s face has been changing drastically and it has begun only recently in Haryana’s Millennium City.
Changing skyline
- Haryana Government has allowed one extra floor along with stilt parking in Gurugram
- This has put additional burden on the already-stressed infrastructure in the city
- The city’s population has crossed 27 lakh
- Water supply is under strain in summers while traffic jams are a routine in peak hours
The single housing units continue to be razed to the ground in plotted sectors, making way for four-storeyed buildings with a new owner for each apartment. While the floor-wise registration has made housing a bit “affordable” in an expensive city like Gurugram, the flip side is that the services are being stretched and burdened with infrastructure augmentation failing to keep pace with changes on the ground.
“We are gradually upgrading services in keeping with the Gurugram-Manesar Urban Complex Plan 2031, which has projected a population of 42.50 lakh. However, given the pace at which the population is rising, the city is likely to reach this projection much earlier,” says a Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) official. The city’s population has already crossed 27 lakh.
The water supply is under strain in summers and the roads seem to be shrinking amid the unprecedented increase in vehicles. Untreated sewage is being let into drains and the demand for facilities is spiralling as new buildings continue to add floors and families. With new construction underway in almost every lane of each sector, the reasons are not hard to find. “It has made housing a bit economical, but it is happening at a heavy price. These sectors were planned for a specific number. Suddenly, the numbers are nearly three times the number of people the area was planned for. The government top brass should put their heads together and find a solution instead of only firefighting when the situation becomes grave,” explains Col Avinash Sharma (retd), a member of the ad-hoc Residents Welfare Association of Sector 15.
The builders maintain that there has been a sudden spurt in construction activity post-Covid and “quick money” is egging on the sellers and the buyers in this demand-driven market.
“After Covid, a number of my clients moved from small homes in Delhi to bigger units in Gurugram. It is a win-win situation for the builders and the land owners. Under the prevailing deal, the plot owner gets two floors and cash while the builder gets two floors. Sometimes, the builder even agrees to pay the rent for the owner till the construction is done,” explains builder Kapil Arora, who has been into the real estate business for over two decades.
The authorities maintain that while the increased floor area ratiohas resulted in the smallest houses becoming four-storeyed buildings, the floor-wise sale is allowed only for plot upwards of 180 sq yards (six marlas) and the Apartment Act applies only to buildings with more than five floors. While the registry of floors in the names of different owners is an attraction, the lure of quick money is bound to keep the construction market going in the city, the ever-rising pressure on services notwithstanding.
