IMPACT OF TRANSIT PROJECT ON LAND VALUES AND LAND USE PATTERN: A CASE STUDY OF DELHI METRO

Abstract

Delhi is one of the fastest growing metros in country with population of about 138 million as per 2001 census. As it is an administrative city and major work center, about 3 million people traveled to city daily, leading pressure on the transportation system. To improve the transportation system now rail based mass transit system got implemented in city called metro rail, with high capacity and high accessibility levels and technically advanced features. 1VIRTS will bring changes in distribution of people, in activity patterns or in land uses. At the MRTS stations and with in influence area, the impact of rapid accessibility can be felt in form of informal sector, congestion, parking problem, increased land value followed by the transformation of land use. It may lead to unplanned development, so to have planned development there should be proper integration of development with MRTS called as the Transit supportive development. The present work is an effort to identify the causes and impacts of Metro on the surrounding land values and Landuse pattern. The area selected for the study has a totally different character in comparison to the other areas where metro rail has been implemented. The corridor between two major interchanges of MRTS i.e, Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk is an underground section passing below the old city of Delhi, Shahjahanbad. The area is characterized by low rise high density, with the implementation of metro in the walled city has further deteriorated the area. During the study, the data was collected in form of maps from the previous studies and primary data collection done by mapping the existing land use of the area and carrying out surveys. For conducting the primary survey, stratified random sampling was done and the strata's that were formed were based upon the area under pure residential use and area under mix of residential and commercial use. The survey findings revealed lots of facts and figures and the improvement that the people in the area wanted and the changes that they desired should have been taken care of. In order to have transit oriented development, recommendations and guidelines are laid to improve the land use planning and development controls at nodes and influence area like giving flexibility in FAR, or to permit change in Landuse with certain restrictions so as to restore the heritage character of the study area.