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If you are dreaming of owning a two or three-bedroom house in the capital, do not pin your hopes on the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

For Delhi’s middle class, a DDA flat is the only hope of owning an affordable house in the city. But their hopes may be dashed, at least for now, as DDA has shifted its focus on building one-bedroom houses for economically weaker sections (EWS).

DDA, the country’s biggest land development agency, plans to start constructing one lakh houses in the lower income group (LIG) and EWS categories this year. So for the next couple of years, it is not starting any new project for the middle and higher income group categories (two and three-bedroom houses).

“At present, EWS and LIG houses are our priority areas. Bigger houses are nowhere on the radar,” said a DDA official who didn’t wish to be named.
“However, projects that are already going on would be completed in the next few years but that number is not substantial,” the official said. “Also, the prices of these two or three-bedroom houses would be on the higher side. We are constructing them with better specifications, which will increase the cost.”

In the last housing scheme launched in 2010, the majority of houses offered by DDA were one-bedroom. There were 599 three-bedroom houses, 3,187 two-bedroom houses, and 12,073 one-bedroom and janta flats.

While the average plinth area of an EWS flat is between 20 and 25 square metres, that of a two-bedroom flat could be between 60 and 110 square metres. The area of a three-bedroom house is between 120 and 180 square metres.

-HT