The Hindu 30.07.2010
Corporation plans new master plan
Staff Reporter
| It will address issues of city, suburbs |
Seminar on Saturday to discuss draft
Citizens can air views on the draft
Kozhikode: The City Corporation is in the process of finalising a master plan for the city, including the Beypore, Elathur and Cheruvannur-Nallalam panchayats recently merged with the civic body, and the Kadalundi, Feroke, Ramanattukara and Olavanna panchayat areas just outside its limits.
At a press conference here on Thursday, Mayor M. Bhaskaran said the Corporation now depended on a master plan valid only till 2001, drawn up for an area of 111.9 sq.km and a population of 4.95 lakh.
The new plan would be finalised taking into account the comprehensive development of the city and its suburbs. The area covered would be 177 sq.km and the population, 8.5 lakh.
Legally binding
The plan, being prepared under Section 51(3) of the Kerala Municipality Act, was expected to come into force in June 2011 and would be legally binding for 20 years.
He said a spatial integration committee, chaired by him, had prepared a draft plan, approved by the Corporation Council, containing details of residential, educational, industrial, commercial, agricultural and other zones.
The secondary data it had were of schools, hospitals, housing colonies and commercial establishments. Some of its details had been borrowed from the vision document prepared in 2004. The Corporation had also prepared a city development plan recently.
He said a seminar on “Comprehensive development plan for Kozhikode 2031” would be held at the Regional Science Centre and Planetarium hall from 9.30 a.m. on Saturday to discuss the draft plan. At the event, citizens would be given a chance to express their views on the draft. Elected representatives and government officials would participate.
Final plan
He said the final plan would include recommendations and suggestions made at the seminar. These would be forwarded to the Chief Town Planner for approval.
Mr. Bhaskaran said the new plan would plug loopholes allowing for exemptions for construction of buildings in special zones. Earlier, the government used to give exemptions from building rules. But the Kerala High Court had directed it to stop that.
He said the new plan would permit construction of houses having areas below 3,000 sq.ft in any notified zones.
The Paravur municipality and the Kollam district panchayat had prepared a master plan based on the guidelines of the State government. The Kochi and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporations still relied on the 2001 plan. Henceforth, all grama panchayats would also have to prepare the plans.
