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CMDA to induct farmers as partners in proposed joint ventures

Saturday, 14 November 2009 06:12 administrator
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The Hindu 14.11.2009

CMDA to induct farmers as partners in proposed joint ventures

Special Correspondent

“This will enable it to create a large pool of land and avoid legal tussles”

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

EXCHANGING IDEAS: Vikram Kapur, CMDA Member Secretary (left), with M.R. Jaishankar, chairman, Estate South 2009 conference, in Chennai on Friday. Kumar Gera, chairman, CREDAI and R. Sellamuthu, Development Commissioner (second from right), are in the picture.

CHENNAI: Instead of acquiring land from farmers, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will make them partners in proposed joint ventures for creating infrastructure facilities, said its Member Secretary Vikram Kapur here on Friday.

Delivering the special address at a two-day conference on ‘South India real estate — the way ahead,’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the move, based on the Gujarat model, would enable the CMDA to create a large pool of land and avoid legal tussles. The pooled land would be handed over to public or private sector firms for large-scale development.

The developed land would fetch good value for farmers who could exit from the venture by selling their stake.

To come out of the present crisis, the real estate industry had sought policy sops from the Centre and the State. “Short-term tax incentives are unsustainable. These are all knee-jerk reactions. The real estate players should use this period as an opportunity to emerge stronger in the market by focusing on efficiency, quality and cost competitiveness.”

In his inaugural address, Development Commissioner R. Sellamuthu said that the boundary of Chennai Metropolitan Area would be increased to 1,500 sq.km from the present 1,189 sq.km. to cater to the growing needs and remove the urban and semi-urban divide.

“The expanded area will be sufficient to take care of the development needs of the city for the next 10-15 years. A decade later, it will be extended to 2,000 sq.km. Plans for other cities are also being prepared. Besides, total mobility solution for the entire State, such as mass rapid transport, road networks and bus bays, will be completed in the next five to six years to offer better, quicker and cheaper transportation means to commuters,” he said.

Kumar Gera, chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), urged the members to send in their views or suggestions on the proposed Real Estate Regulation Bill to the Ministry concerned.

A project could be delayed by various stakeholders such as local authorities, project sanctioning authorities, buyers and financial institutions.

However, the Bill does not provide for the accountability of these stakeholders in a transaction.

M.R. Jaishankar, chairman, Estate South 2009, said: “Due to the global recession, the real estate industry went through a difficult phase for the last 12 to 15 months. However, it has started showing progress for the last three months on improved economic growth, and it is not an aberration.”

Last Updated on Saturday, 14 November 2009 06:20
 

Major rain water harvesting programme for city

Friday, 13 November 2009 04:20 administrator
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The Hindu 13.11.2009

Major rain water harvesting programme for city

Special Correspondent

It will be carried out with the participation of people

COIMBATORE: Rain water harvesting structures will be put up at Rs.1 crore at 215 places prone to stagnation across the city. The project will be funded by the Central Ground Water Board of the Union Ministry of Water Resources, District Collector P. Umanath announced here on Thursday.

The programme would be carried out with the participation of the people, whose role would be that of informing the implementing agency of the places prone to water-logging, the Collector told presspersons.

Siruthuli, a people’s initiative to conserve water resources, had been chosen as the implementing agency by the board. The organisation would carry out the programme under the guidance of the Collector and officials of the board.

The project had been proposed by Siruthuli that had already put up 150 structures along roads and on open spaces with funding by the Coimbatore Corporation.

The Union Ministry of Water Resources had studied the impact of these structures in terms of elimination of stagnation and raising ground water level. From 200 ft, ground water level had risen to 30 ft because rain water harvesting. And stagnation was eliminated during rain.

Finding both purposes being served by the earlier project, the Ministry said it could serve as a model for the rest of the country. Towards that end, it first wanted more such structures put up in Coimbatore city. A District Level Technical Committee had been formed, with the Collector as its Chairman, to implement the project.

Siruthuli Chairman S.V. Balasubramaniam said the earlier project had even led to ground water becoming potable around eight harvesting structures. However, the water level rose in the areas near the structures only during rain and dipped after that.

The Collector said that the objective of the new programme was to sustain the ground water level.

Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra said that a recent flood control meeting in the civic body had decided to establish water harvesting structures wherever storm water drains did not have a disposal point.

The civic body would hold a workshop on rain water harvesting on November 18 and rally with the theme “Save Water” was also being planned. Mr. Mishra said putting up rain water harvesting structures in every building was mandatory and that the Corporation would take this up with the Builders Association of India. “They also can attend the workshop.”

Mayor R. Venkatachalam said all multi-storeyed buildings should have these structures. There was no point in putting up anything haphazard in an attempt to meet the conditions for building plan approval. Good harvesting structures would actually help in recharging the bore wells on the apartment premises, he pointed out.

People can inform Siruthuli at:

No.44, Bharathi Park 2nd Cross Road, Saibaba Colony, Coimbatore- 641011. Phone: (0422) 4333301, 4333302 or 98946-31551.

Last Updated on Friday, 13 November 2009 04:22
 

Only 10 pc qualified town planners in TN

Thursday, 12 November 2009 11:07 administrator
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The New Indian Express 12.11.2009

Only 10 pc qualified town planners in TN
C Shivakumar

CHENNAI: Guess why cities in Tamil Nadu are an eyesore? Hardly 10 per cent of the town planners in the State have the qualification to do their job.

“According to an estimate, there are around 50 qualified town planners of the 500 required in Tamil Nadu,” former State joint director of Town and Country Planning (TCPD) N Manimurukan said.

Secretary of Tamil Nadu chapter of the Institute of Town Planners India (ITPI) S Balasubramanium concurred. “About 90 per cent of TCPD officials are not sufficiently qualified and there has been no direct recruitment of qualified town planners for the last 38 years,” he said. The trend was broken this year after Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission directly recruited three qualified town planners.

Manimurukan and Balasubramanium spoke to Express on the sidelines of a seminar to mark the World Town Planning Day on Tuesday.

“From 1970, there had been no direct recruitment of town planners due to service rules. The town planners appoi­nted in 60s and 70s had retired one by one,” Balasubramanium said.

“Even now there are two vaca­ncies of chief planners in Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the posts are yet to be filled due to service rule problems. As per the approved service rule, there is only provision up to senior planner level,” said former ITPI regional chapter secretary R Shivakumar.

“Even the quotas for the SCs and the STs in the department have not been filled,” Balasubramanium said.

“TN lacks well planned cities because even the layout is prepa­red by town planners who hold a diploma either in ITI or in civil engineer­ing. Ironically, qualified town planners don’t have licences to prepare the plans,” he lamented.

Manimurukan said: “Qualified town planners who graduated from the School of Architecture and Planning under Anna University were either privately employed by the Public Works Department or Highways Department as engineers.”

“In 2002, there were only five qualified town planners; in 2003, four; and in 2004, two. From 2005 to 2008, there was only one qualified planner. There was no qualified planner for more than one year till direct recruitment of three planners by TNPSC in August 2009,” he added.

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 November 2009 11:48
 
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