India’s first transit-oriented development (TOD) project to be a reality in the next three years! Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently laid the foundation stone for the country’s very first TOD project, under which a state-of-the-art infrastructure zone will be constructed. The project will include the national capital’s tallest tower which will be built in East Delhi. According to officials quoted in a PTI report, the TOD project has been titled as ‘East Delhi Hub’ and will be developed at Karkardooma spread over an area of 30 hectares. The TOD infrastructure project will come in the next three and a half years.

The East Delhi Hub will be developed around two of the existing Delhi Metro stations at Karkardooma, on the Delhi Metro Blue Line and Delhi Metro Pink Line. The project will include a massive open green landscape area, besides a 48-storey signature tower which will come up in the first phase of the TOD project. The signature tower will become Delhi’s tallest tower.

The land at the site is owned by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). THe DDA has chosen the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) for implementing the first phase of the TOD project. The infrastructure project will consist of mixed-land use, with 70 per cent of land for residential area, 20 per cent for commercial use and 10 per cent for the civic amenities.

The project has taken off after much delay, however Amit Shah stated that it will be inaugurated in the working tenure of the present government at the Centre. C P Kukreja Architects, a Delhi-based architecture firm, has designed the hub for the TOD project. Officials from the firm were quoted in the report saying that the entire area has an organic growth design and will give an appearance of rising lotus stems. Dikshu C Kukreja, the firm’s architect told PTI about the various facilities and special aspects of the TOD project, which are as follows:

  • One of the most unique aspects of the TOD project is that it will have a central and massive green lung of around 10 acres, built inside it. While the South Delhi area has several huge gardens and lawns, the East Delhi area does not have this kind of a recreational space, so it has been incorporated in the project.
  • The hub has been designed with a sustainability model, and will have the provisions of vertical gardens as well as water-harvesting facilities.
  • There will also be a huge plaza near the Delhi Metro stations and skywalks will be built to take people directly to the destinations without them having to step onto the streets.
  • Schools, dispensaries, gymnasia, cultural centres as well as libraries will be built inside the hub.