Delhi case study : formal serviced land development

Increasingly, Indians of all income levels have resorted to illegal land acquisition and resale. In Delhi alone, there were more than 700 unauthorized colonies with a population of about 1.2 million as of 1983. In discussing the delivery of formal serviced land in Delhi, this study reviews the historical evolution of the land development issue to develop a typology of nine types of residential lands: informal settlements, traditional villages, unauthorized colonies, public housing plots, government employee housing, public housing flats, housing cooperatives, authorized colonies, and old city housing. For each type, the study describes the sector (i.e., private formal, private informal, or public), population served, development character, and land tenure. The study also discusses policies and regulations affecting urban land delivery, systems for allocation and disposal of land for shelter, funding sources for land development and methods of allocation, and the roles and linkages of the formal private and public sectors. The report concludes that the major problems facing the public sector in delivering land are legal constraints to acquisition, inefficient administration, coordination of off-site infrastructure, and lack of a land information system. For the private sector, major obstacles are access to land, lack of off-site infrastructure, delays in obtaining sanctions, and availability of financing.