Delhi Arts commission lays out plans to make it so by 2020. 

NEW DELHI: So what would Delhi look like in 2020? The Delhi Urban Arts commission has a few recommendations to make. If followed, the Capital could be as comfortable and convenient as any other international city by 2020.  

An exhibition put together by the DUAC opens on Tuesday in the Capital and is going to envisage the urban infrastructure development of the city in the next fourteen years, advocating changes modelled on the lines of cities such as London and New York.  

Recommendations on improving transport networks, heritage conservation, public safety and housing are some of the areas that have been looked into as part of this project.  

With a task force of urban planners working under Charles Correa, the exhibition has been the result of a carefully-studied plan and is spread out across 80 panels of exhibits. Jivan Mittu, architect and expert on transport says, "Like New York, Delhi is an exploding city and we could ultimately base the road networks on the Connecticut-New Jersey-New York model."  

Elevated roads over the ring road, dedicated corridors for trucks and heavy vehicles, separate roads for public transport, 'pedestrianisation' of major markets such as South Extension, GK and Khan Market with underground parking facility being available at all these commercial points, and extending metro and metro feeder services are some of the things that should be able to change the face of Delhi in the coming years.  

"One of the important things is also to create another road which will join all the missing links in the existing road networks. After the ring roads, this will be another important road which could be a linear road or a ring road," adds Mittu.  

Some of the other plans include increasing connectivity between Old and New Delhi and making heritage structures part of daily life. "For instance, Lodhi garden is now part of every Delhi citizen's life. We want to revive the past glory of all old monuments and integrate them with the daily life of the average Delhiite," adds Saroj Sawhney, architect.