The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Wednesday approved the Master Plan for Delhi-2047, extending the target year from 2041 to 2047 after the earlier plan remained pending with the Centre for more than three years.

The plan, approved at a DDA meeting chaired by Lieutenant-Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu, will now be sent to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs?? for final approval and notification, according to an official statement.

The L-G, who is also the chairperson of the DDA, in a social media post, said the plan would align Delhi’s long-term development with the Centre’s “Viksit Bharat@2047” vision.

A road map for sustainable and inclusive urban growth and improving ease of doing business and ease of living were also discussed in the meeting, the L-G added.

The approval comes after the earlier Master Plan for Delhi-2041 was cleared by the DDA on February 28, 2023, and sent to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in April that year for notification. It has since missed several deadlines, including a 100-day deadline set by the Centre after the Narendra Modi government took office for a third term.

The latest plan is expected to shape Delhi’s expansion, housing, mobility and environmental management over the next two decades, with the DDA saying it takes an integrated approach to housing, economic growth, transport, infrastructure, environmental sustainability, heritage conservation and urban regeneration.

Delhi’s previous master plan, MPD-2021, had also faced a prolonged delay and was finally notified in 2007, seven years after the intended planning horizon began.

Policies rolled out

Several components linked to Delhi’s long-term development have already been taken up separately while the full master plan remained pending. The Centre notified a new transit-oriented development policy in April, paving the way for higher-density construction around metro corridors. The government has also decided to regularise 1,511 unauthorised colonies on an “as-is-where-is” basis.

The 2047 plan will also address some of the city’s long-standing planning challenges, including the proposed land pooling policy in outer Delhi, the Green Development Area policy, and the future of unauthorised colonies in the Yamuna O-Zone, officials said.

The O-Zone, an ecologically sensitive floodplain, has more than five lakh residents living in unauthorised colonies.

In May, the Delhi High Court held that residential colonies could not legally exist in the area, adding another layer to the question of how these settlements will be dealt with under the city’s long-term planning framework.

The DDA said the Master Plan 2047 takes into account the projected growth in Delhi’s population and seeks to provide a framework for housing, infrastructure, mobility and environmental management as the capital expands towards 2047.

Approvals eased

The DDA also approved amendments to the Unified Building Bye-Laws (UBBL), 2016, aimed at reducing the number of prior clearances required for building permits in the authority meeting, for “ease of doing business”.

Under the changes, applicants will no longer have to obtain separate no-objection certificates from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Chief Inspector of Factories, Delhi Jal Board and Forest Department as a precondition for obtaining building permits. The move is intended to reduce compliance requirements and simplify the building-plan approval process.

A senior official said, “The applicant will need to self-certify through the portal and the independent third-party auditor will approve the proposal. The third-party auditor in this case, the official added, will be the government authority’s empanelled architect who will approve that the building plan complies with rules like floor area ratio and other criteria.”

It also approved a policy allowing reconstruction and redevelopment of DDA-built two-storey dwelling units on individual plots in older housing schemes, including at Naraina Vihar. The policy will apply to similarly placed DDA housing schemes across Delhi.

Published - August 13, 2026 01:19 am IST