The Hindu 13.08.2012
How is master plan going to treat the capital city?
How intelligently is the interim master plan of
Thiruvananthapuram city, to be ready in two months, planning to use the
land in the capital city?
The query was foremost on
the minds of most of the participants of a seminar, held as part of the
CREDAI Property Show that concluded on Sunday.
According
to Deputy Mayor Happy Kumar, the master plan is outdated, posing a
hurdle in initiating developmental plans for the city. His other main
concern is the lack of expertise in the preparation of the plan.
“Many
Corporation officials are not aware of the importance of the master
plan and are inexperienced. They need sufficient help from the experts
in this field. Though we will be able to bring out an interim plan in
two months, I am not sure how far the plan can address the issues in the
city,” he said.
Mr. Kumar said the master plan
required the participation of expert companies, who can make valuable
suggestions and join with the Corporation to make it comprehensive.
“However,
the Corporation does not have the authority to appoint any such private
agencies. But if the government takes the initiative to outsource the
work to companies that has the expertise in this field, then an
efficient updated master plan of the city can be made,” he said.
Speaking
on the subject Urban Planning and Master Plan, secretary-general of
CREDAI Kerala S.N. Reghuchandran Nair said unless there was a clear-cut
idea about the area of land use and an updated plan on the developing
sites of the city, the city would no more be able to handle the rapid
urbanisation.
According to the latest State
Urbanisation Report, the State recorded a very high rate of
urbanisation, scoring 83.82 percentage over the previous decade. This
means there will be acute scarcity of land, which calls for a
well-planned land usage.
“A major hurdle is that most
often land records and data for Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
mapping are not accurate or not available. A developing area such as
Technopark does not find a place in the old master plan. Even when the
government is proposing the Emerging Kerala scheme, very little is done
about devising a plan for the development,” Mr. Nair said.
The
CREDAI Property Show, organised by the CREDAI in association with the
State Bank of India, had the participation of as many as 23 builders and
14 non-builders in the State.
