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Master Plan

Master Plan: Chamber seeks focus on environment

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The Hindu     30.03.2011

Master Plan: Chamber seeks focus on environment

M. Soundariya Preetha

‘Identify all wetlands to ensure their conservation'

Eco-friendly move: Even as infrastructure development is a major demand, the conservation of wetlands in Coimbatore is a key thrust area. – File photo: K. Ananthan
Eco-friendly move: Even as infrastructure development is a major demand, the conservation of wetlands in Coimbatore is a key thrust area. – File photo: K. Ananthan

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, has sought identification of all the wetlands in the Coimbatore Master Plan to ensure their conservation as Coimbatore has several water bodies.

The chamber has submitted to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) several suggestions to the revised Coimbatore Master Plan and this is one of the efforts that can be taken up.

The Local Planning Authority (LPA) will accept suggestions and objections for the revised plan till the end of this week.

The chamber has also suggested that a comprehensive recreation infrastructure proposal focusing on eco-tourism should be mooted for the Coimbatore Local Planning Area.

Eco-friendly recreation projects and water conservation should be the focus. An expert group can be formed for the purpose.

“A Master Plan should talk of complete spatial planning and not just on land use classifications,” says architect Arun Prasadh, who was part of the team that compiled the suggestions and comments for the Master Plan. Urban environment is one of the key elements of a Master Plan.

The chamber has also suggested that the land use pattern for the local planning area should be brought under two broad categories: mixed and industrial land use.

The current Master Plan has not identified the mixed land use areas. The plan should classify at least select areas for mixed land use.

Urban nodes

The plan suggests eight urban nodes as part of decentralisation. But, some of these areas such as Thudiyalur and Kuniamuthur are already congested.

Smaller towns such as Idikarai, Thondamuthur, and Kadambadi should be chosen as the urban nodes.

The LPA should study the congested commercial areas for continuous building development. For instance, Oppanakara Street, Cross Cut Road, DB Road and NSR Road area are already well-developed commercial centres.

The chamber has also suggested development control rules and regulations for ordinary residential and commercial buildings.

The Master Plan should have an action, operating plan, implementation schedule and budget allocation for the proposed projects. The Coimbatore plan should have a vision for the city, objectives and scope of work, and regional planning as done in the Chennai and Hyderabad plans, according to the chamber.

 

Meeting on Coimbatore Master Plan

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The Hindu         02.03.2011

Meeting on Coimbatore Master Plan

Special Correspondent

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, is organising a meeting with the Member Secretary and Joint Director of the Local Planning Authority, Coimbatore, K. Mookaiah.

According to a release, the meeting will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on March 2 on the Chamber premises to facilitate the public to present their views on the revised Coimbatore Master Plan.

The public can check the land use and get clarifications for the doubts they may have on the proposed Master Plan.

They should bring the village name and survey number (SF Number or TS Number) to check their land use, the release says.

 

Master Plan delay holds up Kovai growth

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Deccan Chronicle      17.12.2010

Master Plan delay holds up Kovai growth

December 17th, 2010

Dec. 16: It has been 18 years since the release of the last Master Plan for the city and though work on the new plan is almost complete and has been submitted to the government, the draft has yet to be released for a public hearing for objections and suggestions. Officials here feel that the Master Plan is being unduly delayed and say this is hampering development work in the fast-growing city.

Pointing out that future development of the city could only be based on the Master Plan, Coimbatore Consumer Cause secretary K. Kathirmathiyon says talk about the plan being prepared has been going on since 2004. “The plan should be revised at least once in 10 years to ensure proper growth, but 18 years have passed and people in Coimbatore are still waiting for it,” he pointed out.

The Master Plan will contain details of the classification of land and purpose of use, new roads to come up and marking of reserved sites and agricultural land. With the growth of real estate, industries and Information Technology, the plan will help identify the amount of land that should be used for different purposes.

Due to lack of awareness among people, efforts were not taken to develop reserved sites as parks or grounds for public use. Once the new plan is released, it will be put up on the Internet, based on which the industries can plan their project.

District collector P. Umanath said, “We have been awaiting its early release as we can plan development activities in and around the city based on the plan. But we do not have any idea when it will be released.”

When asked about the delay in the release of draft plan, DTCP director Pankaj Kumar Bansal said the state would “at any time release the draft plan” as it has been submitted to them for clearance. He added that with the corporation’s area expanding, the draft plan would indicate the expansion of the Local Planning Authority’s (LPA) jurisdiction to over 1.9 lakh hectares from the existing 1.27 lakh hectares.

The draft plan, once released, will be placed before the public for 60 days to hear objections and suggestions, if any. These will then be incorporated and returned to the state for release of the final plan as the new Master Plan for the city’s development.

 


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