The ambitious Draft Regional Plan-2041 (DRP-2041) was discussed by NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) on August 31, 2021. Though, its approval was deferred for now.

The DRP-2041 seeks to make National Capital Region (NCR) a smart region by improving connectivity among towns by bringing in bullet trains, helitaxi services, and smart roads to evolve it into an economically prosperous area comprising of citizen-centric harmonious infrastructure.

DRP-2041 emphasises on construction of multilevel parking complexes a mandatory requirement for city centres with high rise commercial complexes in order to make the region congestion free. It also recommends to park commercial vehicles at periphery in order to avoid congestion.

It recommends to make NCR future ready for sustainable development as the population NCR is expected to grow to around 7 crores by 2031 and 11 crores by 2041.

The NCRPB comprises of entire Delhi, eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, 14 districts of Haryana as well as two districts of Rajasthan. It covers an area of about 55,083 square kilometres. According to draft plan 57 per cent of the total areas of NCRPB will be urbanised by 2031 while 67 per cent by 2041.

Draft plan emphasises on the necessity of minimising journey times across NCR and limit travel times across the region under 30 minutes by bringing in superfast trains & helitaxi services and under 60 minutes by other trains and two to three hours by car.

• It recommended to construct two more regional expressways in addition to Eastern and Western Peripheral expressways:

1. Circular regional expressway through Panipat-Shamli-Meerut-Jewar-Nuh-Bhiwadi-Reqari-Jhajjar-Rohtak-Panipat and
2. Circular regional expressway through Karnal-MuzaffarnagarGarh Mukteshwar–Naraura–Aligarh–Mathura–Deeg–Alwar–Mahendragarh–Charkhi Dadri-Bhiwani-Jind- Kaithal-Karnal

• It recommends to construct trauma centres on each national highway, state highway and expressway, comprising of all facilities including a blood bank, at an interval of 50 km or within travel time of one hour.