The growth of the city over the years has been on a ring and radial pattern, with reliance on roadbased transport. The development envisaged by previous Master Plans was poly-nodal with ahierarchy of commercial centres located on either ring or radial roads. The DDA, however, has beenunable to meet forecasted demands for housing, commercial and industrial space, resulting in largescale unauthorized development, and areas with non-conforming land uses. Only an estimated 30 %of the city’s population lives in planned areas. The poor have borne the brunt of the shortage.In spite of growing pressure on land resources, there are large tracts of underused land within thecentral city. A majority of these are government lands bearing low density (2 storey structures) andold housing. Only 30-35% of government employees have been accommodated within these areas.The lack of formal access to appropriate housing has led to the genesis of unauthorized colonies inDelhi. Currently, there are around 1432 unauthorized colonies providing shelter to around 30 lakhpeople. Unauthorised colonies have being regularized twice in Delhi: in 1961 when over 100colonies were regularized and in 1977 when around 600 colonies where regularized.165 urban villages and 52 census towns form part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD).These urban villages have undergone significant physical and functional transformation related totheir specific location. Key Issues in growth management are listed below:

• Increasing gap between demand and supply of appropriate housing and infrastructure
• Encroachments in urban villages
• Exploitation of agricultural land for unauthorized development
• Inadequate supply of appropriate commercial and industrial space, resulting in non-conformingland uses.
• Lack of Linkage between Physical Planning Strategy and Financial Planning

Water Supply

DJB is the agency of the Govt. of NCT of Delhi responsible for procurement, treatment,transportation and distribution of water in the MCD areas. It also supplies bulk water to the NDMC,and Delhi Cantonment Board. Water requirements for an estimated population of 16.5 million in2006 is 990 MGD At present DJB, is equipped to produce 735 MGD of water from 11 WaterTreatment Plants (WTPs) and ground water abstraction from 446 tube wells & ranney wells. Theper capita availability of water is one of the highest among urban areas. In spite of this, water issupplied for only a few hours in the day. Moreover, norms of supply to different zones vary, andareas at the end of the distribution system receive little water. About 20 per cent of the city’spopulation is not covered by piped water supply. In the absence of piped water supply from DJB,there has been extensive abstraction of ground water. The issues related to the status of watersupply summarized below:

• Unaccounted for water losses are estimated at 42% (16% in transmission and 24% in distribution)
• There are wide variations in supply, both within and between supply zones
• Lack of adequate management systems.

Sewerage and Sanitation

The DJB is also responsible for the management of the sewer system in MCD areas; and collection,transportation, treatment and disposal of sewage from MCD areas, NDMC & DCB areas. The lengthof sewers in the city is 7000 kms. The sewage generation in Delhi has been estimated at 800 MGDagainst the present installed treatment capacity of 512.6 MGD. Thus there is a gap of almost 300MGD in treatment of waste water. Waste water generation being estimated at 80% of piped water supply; and estimated ground water extraction. The conservancy and sanitation department of MCD is responsible for the collection, transportationand disposal of solid waste in the city. The total quantum of solid waste generated per day in Delhiis estimated to be 7,700 MT. Of this, an estimated 6000MT are collected and disposed. Currently,different types of waste streams in the city, including municipal waste, bio-medical waste,construction debris, industrial waste slaughter house waste, electronic waste…etc are all mixed.Waste from different parts of the city is transported to three landfill sites, located at Gazipur,Balaswa and Okhla. The issues related to the status of Solid Waste in city are summarized below:The existing landfills (dump-sites) are almost full. They need to be closed immediately in ascientific manner, and new sanitary landfills (SLF) need to be developed and commissioned atthe earliest possible.

• Treatment of wastes is almost non-existent. Treatment facilities dedicated to different wastestreams, to the extent possible, need to be developed
• Open 'dhalao' (masonry bin) is still the major receptacle for MSW in Delhi. These lead toExposure of the waste to the environment and multiple handling (from depositing of waste toits loading into the collection vehicle)

Traffic and Transportation

The PWD, MCD, DDA, DTTDC and MUD are responsible for the construction and maintenance ofroads in the city; whereas urban transport is managed by Transport department.The road network length in Delhi was 28,500 km in March 2001 up three times increase from 8,380km in 1971-72. The road network comprising of ring and radial pattern has C.P. as focal point withMathura road, Lal Bhadur Shastri Marg, Aurobindo Marg, Rao Tula Ram Marg, Gurgaon Road (NH 8)Patel road, Shankar road, Rohtak Road, G.T.Road (NH-1), Loni road, Shahadra road, NH 24 bypassforming the radials; and Mahatma Gandhi Road (Ring Road), Outer Ring road, Noida road- Bund roadforming the prominent rings. These radial and ring roads serve as major arterials carrying bulk ofthe traffic in the city. During morning and evening peak hours 55-60 per cent of the major arterialshave travel speeds less than 30 kmph, while even in off peak hours 40-45 per cent of majorarterials have travel speeds less than 30 kmph. While the large number of signalized intersectionsin the city has led to excessive travel time and fuel consumption, the construction of fly-overs hasonly shifted the location of congestion.

Urban Delhi is predominantly dependant on road based transport systems as railways caters to onlyabout 1% of local traffic demand (excluding the Metro). The overall capture of public transportservices in the city is only 60 per cent of total trips. Of this, the metro currently accounts for 15per cent. The widespread distribution of employment centers all over the urban space of Delhi hascontained the growth in length of trips. Over 33 per cent of total trips are short trips (less than 15mins duration)

The percentage distribution of categories of motor vehicles in Delhi shows that there has been arapid increase in the number of cars during 1990-2000; while there has been a decline in the othercategory of vehicles. About two third of motor vehicles are two wheelers, though a decreasingtrend in that share has been observed since 1990. On the other hand, due to arrival of low pricedsmall cars and easy financing mechanisms, there is an indication of a shift from two wheelers tocars. The share of cars has increased from 22% in 1991 to 31% in 2005. The issues related to trafficand transportation management in the city are presented below:

• The high growth rate of vehicular traffic volumes on roads causing congestion, delay, safetyissues, pollution.
• The low capture of public transport systems, due to lack of integration of various modes.
• The need to ensure the safety of pedestrians, who accounting for 55%, of total causalities inaccidents (1999).

City Environment

The DPCC, CPCB, CGWB, MCD and DJB are responsible for regulating and monitoring the state ofthe city’s environment. Delhi’s unprecedented rate and scale of urbanization over the last fewdecades has placed enormous stress on the natural resources of the city. In comparison to theurbanization rate in the last 50 years, the rate of environmental degradation has grown at a muchhigher rate. This includes the loss of green cover, loss of biodiversity and aesthetics; increasing airpollution, surface and ground water pollution; loss of water bodies, receding water table, highincidence of diseases and mortality. The transport, domestic and industrial sectors are the majorcontributors to the rise in ambient air pollution levels (although certain background sources such asdesert dust also contribute). Most of the 916 lakes, ponds and reservoirs reported to have existed incity have been depleted. Rejuvenation is being taken for a few (Sanjay Lake, Hauz Khas). The mostpressing environmental concern is the continued degradation of the river Yamuna, due to thedumping of untreated effluents into its waters. Issues related to the status of city environment arepresented below:

• Unsustainable extraction of ground water
• Weak management of natural resources, leading to degradation of the ridge, the river andsurface water bodies