DDA finalises plans to spruce up Dwarka in Delhi
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) plans to beautify and revamp Dwarka, a sub-city in southwest Delhi, including the installation of fountains and statues, as well as revamping footpaths along an 8-km stretch. Tenders for the project will be floated within the next 15 days, with the aim of awarding contracts by the end of December. The project is in response to the lack of adequate streetlights and walkable footpaths in the area, which have been a longstanding concern for residents.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has finalised a plan for the landscaping and beautification of Dwarka, along the lines of the sprucing up of central Delhi and the Lutyens’s Zone carried out in the run-up to the G20 Summit in September, officials aware of the project said on Wednesday.
As part of the project, the officials said, the footpath along an 8-km stretch between the Palam flyover and Yashobhoomi convention centre will be revamped, and the planting of trees and installation of fountains and statues will be undertaken.
The officials said that tenders for the project will be floated within the next 15 days, and are expected to be awarded by the end of December.
In October, Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena had visited Dwarka and the Yashobhoomi convention centre and asked officials to take up beautification and road improvement in the area. He had also asked the private project developer, DDA, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Public Works Department (PWD) to coordinate and develop the area surrounding Yashobhoomi on the lines of Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan.
“As of now, apart from the landscaping work, we are also installing a fountain at the intersection of sectors 1 and 7, and we are installing statues at five rotaries in different sectors. Along the 8-km stretch, after descending from the Palam flyover to Yashobhoomi, we plan to install statues of Nandi. A discussion regarding this is still going on,” said a DDA official.
He also said that electric poles across most of Dwarka will also be replaced, though that project will take a longer time to implement.
Residents hailed the move. Urban planner Prerna Mehta, a resident of Dwarka Sector 7, said, “If had to point out infrastructural issues in Dwarka, lack of adequate and working streetlights and lack of walkable footpaths would top the list. While there is Metro connectivity for most of the Dwarka sectors and last mile connectivity options are also good, the walking infrastructure is miserable. The footpaths either don’t exist or are broken. This is not just a commute problem but also a safety concern, which should have been addressed long back.”
The Dwarka sub-city in southwest Delhi, conceptualised in the 1980s, has an estimated population of 1 million, comprising mostly middle and upper-middle-income groups.