GDA board nod for transit oriented zones along Metro corridors
The city currently has two Metro corridors – a 2.1km Blue Line from Anand Vihar to Vaishali and another 9.34km Red Line from Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda
The board of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Monday gave its approval for defining transit-oriented (TOD) zones alongside the alignment of Metro lines in Ghaziabad.
The Ghaziabad city currently has two Metro corridors – a 2.1km Blue Line from Anand Vihar to Vaishali and another 9.34km Red Line from Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda. The Blue Line has two stations and the Red line eight Metro stations in Ghaziabad.
The GDA officials said the proposal defines the influence area of the TOD zones in a linear form of 500 metres on each side of the Metro corridor alignment.
The TOD zones are a form of mixed land use zones in which residential and commercial activities can be developed together. The concept of TOD is fast growing and aims at creating vibrant, sustainable and livable communities that are generally cantered near high-quality train systems.
“The board cleared the TOD zones along Metro corridors and these will be defined as 500 metres on both sides of the two Metro corridors in Ghaziabad. This will pave way for mixed land use in the TOD influence area. We will now invite public objections/suggestions before finalizing the TOD zones. The TOD zones alongside the Metro corridors will also be included in the draft Master Plan, 2031. The TOD zones for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) have already been defined and included in the draft Master Plan,” said Atul Vats, vice-chairperson, GDA.
The GDA said for the RRTS, the TOD zones have been defined as area within a 1.5km radius from the existing RRTS stations in Ghaziabad. These have already been defined for the eight RRTS stations in Ghaziabad and also made part of draft Master Plan, 2031.
The 82km long RRTS project, proposed to connect three cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut, has eight stations in Ghaziabad. These are at Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Duhai Depot, Muradnagar, Modinagar (south) and Modinagar (north).
“With the approval for TOD zones along Metro corridors, our final hurdle for pushing forward the draft Master Plan 2031 has also been cleared. This was the last item that was left to be included in the draft plan. Now, we will incorporate it as per procedures and send our draft plan for final approval to the state government,” Vats said.
The deliberations on the new draft plan of 2031 have been going on since 2019. New areas have been defined under the new plan for Ghaziabad, Loni and Modinagar/Muradnagar. The draft 2031 plan will replace existing Master Plan 2021.