Exploring land value capture mechanism for the development of support infrastructure along the MRTS corridor : a case study of Jaipur

Abstract

The unexpected urban expansion has widely resulted in private vehicle as preferred transit mode. Residents of urban areas tend to use private vehicles because of unavailability of affordable space in central areas and inaccessibility of public transit in peripheral areas of city, for their routine movement to work, leisure, shopping and other purposes. Although, this increasing number of private vehicles show strong economic growth and rising incomes but the cons are significant influences that need to resolve other consequences. This large quantum of private vehicles creates air and sound pollution, traffic congestion, social exclusion, etc. in our cities. Unregulated sprawl is putting tremendous demand for additional support infrastructure which is quite difficult to produce with limited financial resources. Thus, this increasing demands of infrastructure can be controlled by compact development with the help of efficient public transport modes such as MRT, BRT, mono rail, etc. for every Indian city. Local residents, traders, tourists, etc. all want access to clean and safe rapid transit system. But, meeting the transportation infrastructure needs in sustainable manner is complicated. Since, investing in construction and land is very expensive and henceforth, capital spending on better transportation facilities is a great threat if expected users are not turning to it, which totally depends on high densities. Since cities still lack in basic facilities of clean drinking water and sanitation, etc. how will these high densities be facilitated the additionally required infrastructure. Although, if implemented, these rapid transit stations can be an asset for attracting and focusing developments. Capturing the value of land around the metro stations, by the authorities who own the land and can be used as a financing tool. Therefore, the study aims to suggest suitable mechanisms for capturing the land values around three identified metro stations of Jaipur metro and then financing the support infrastructure that is required for the additional population around these metro stations. The objectives are as follows: • To study the landuse characteristics and variation in land values along the MRTS corridor. • To delineate study area and details of land ownership within the influence area of the stations. • To assess the various land value capture tools for the delineated study area • To determine suitable land value capture mechanism(s) for the delineated study area and the support (physical) infrastructure in the study area. Before proceeding to the data collection and analysis, various literatures and concepts were studied. Learning about public transport and its impacts, transit oriented development and most importantly exploring about land value capture – various tools used and best practices across the globe. Understanding that capturing land value through land sale or development, through partnerships between agencies, selling air rights, land readjustments, etc. can be done. These tools, resultiv in recovering the debts of municipalities, promotes inclusive development, supports transit oriented development and reduces pollution and promote complementary land development. After this, based on the objectives, primary and secondary surveys were conducted. Influence area was delineated for selected three stations based on standards and guidelines as well as land and utilisation criteria and were studied in detail. Jaipur - the pink city is a city famous for the tourism influx and hence flourishing businesses. Amidst this image of the city, the three delineated stations around the metro corridor had different genre. The characteristics of these three zones were drawn based on the landuse, land values and primary observations. According to the characteristics, different types of value capture techniques or tools were implied upon the zones and calculations were performed at a gross level. These calculations showed the amount of value that can be recovered from different tools in each zone. Based on the FAR, the land ownerships and land values, tentative amounts of the capital revenues and operation and maintenance revenues were generated. Providing additional FAR, collecting urban development tax and selling the government owned land were a few of the value capture techniques that were applied to create revenue generation scenarios, even though the delineated study area is restricted to 800 meters around the stations. Apart from that, under one type of land value capture technique, at various government owned land parcels, new residential and commercial built-up was proposed and it was recommended to sell these built-ups by three different combinations at the three different zones. These combinations broadly being Public-private partnership, land on lease and land on sale. Finally, water supply, sewerage infrastructure and roads are recommended under this thesis study for the additional population that might migrate to the areas where vacant land is developed. Hence, the cost for water supply, sewerage and roads is calculated based on various guidelines. This way, suitable land value capturing mechanism is developed from the combination of various land value capture tools in one framework. Based on their best suitability to generate the revenues for the development support physical infrastructure along the Jaipur MRTS corridor and this study can be replicated around other stations (of Jaipur metro) in a similar pattern.