NCR Planning Board eyes 5‑8 new smart towns, aims for 30‑minute travel across Delhi‑NCR
The upcoming Regional Plan 2041 proposes 5‑8 new townships and a high‑speed rail network to cut travel time within Delhi‑NCR to 30 minutes, requiring over ₹20 lakh crore investment.
The NCR Planning Board’s Regional Plan 2041 seeks to create 5‑8 new smart townships and introduce super‑fast rail links to limit intra‑NCR travel to 30 minutes. An investment of more than ₹20 lakh crore is projected to accommodate an additional three crore residents.
Delhi-NCR, Regional Plan 2041, new townships, high‑speed rail, smart cities, DMIC, urban development, infrastructure, housing, transportation
New Delhi, 11 June 2026: The NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) is set to adopt the Regional Plan 2041 next week, outlining an ambitious expansion of the National Capital Region. The plan proposes the creation of five to eight new townships – a mix of brown‑field redevelopment and green‑field development – to alleviate pressure on Delhi.
The document calls for “30 minutes NCR”, meaning travel between major NCR cities, including Delhi, should not exceed half an hour. This goal is to be achieved through a network of high‑speed trains, heli‑taxis and improved rail corridors.
Key proposals include:
- Exploration of 5‑8 new green‑field townships based on economic growth zones in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
- All new settlements, whether brown‑field or green‑field, will feature modern smart civic amenities modelled on Aurangabad Industrial City (Auric), a 10,000‑acre greenfield smart city under the Delhi‑Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
- Development of self‑contained, self‑sufficient smart townships along existing and proposed expressways, orbital rail corridors and other strategically located lands, following a transit‑oriented development approach.
- Recognition of Uttar Pradesh’s plan for the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Area – a greenfield city targeting 20 lakh residents – and Haryana’s initiatives around the KMP Expressway and Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE) as “Panchgrams”. These will be detailed further in a sub‑regional plan.
- A push for a “30‑minute fast high‑quality limited‑stop mass‑transit rail system” linking the outer NCR boundary to Delhi, supplemented by super‑fast trains and heli‑taxis to keep travel time under 30 minutes, 60 minutes by other trains, and 2‑3 hours by road.
- Guidelines for institutions within NCR to allocate 15‑20% of their land for residential use, facilitating housing for staff and students through apartments, hostels and transit housing.
The plan stresses that Delhi‑NCR is projected to overtake Tokyo as the world’s most populous urban agglomeration by 2030. To accommodate more than three crore additional citizens over the next 15 years and upgrade existing infrastructure, the board estimates a financial outlay of over ₹20 lakh crore.
This comprehensive roadmap aims to de‑congest Delhi, improve connectivity, and promote sustainable urban growth across the region.
