C Shivakumar
Chennai:
Tamil Nadu should constitute State Urban Development Authority as secretariat for urban local bodies, according to a report.
Submitting its recommendations to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday, Institute of Town Planners India, Tamil Nadu Regional Chapter urged the chief minister to consider it in evolving the urbanization policy under the 12th five-year plan.
ITPI chairman K R Thooyavan told Express that State Urban Development Authority could bring in accountability and transparency in urban infrastructure projects. Interestingly, SUDA was proposed in the late 1990s under the World Bank aided project but it failed to see the light of the day.
“If we have SUDA, it will bring in uniform rules throughout the state as currently, there are too many players in urban bodies and there is confusion over implementing the law,” he added.
Interestingly, the report stated that the state has only one full fledged Urban Development Authority (UDA), which has its limitations in catering to Tier-II and Tier-III cities as such there is a need to consitute development authorities for Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy and various other cities.
The UDAs will not only help the urban areas but also the state in particular, because urban areas are engines of economic growth and development of state, the report said.
The report also said that conflict and overlap between Town and Country Planning Act and municipal acts have often led to confusion and effective implementation of laws. “The government should try to resolve the gray areas in this regard,” the report added.
Planning techniques such as Geographical Information System (GIS), aerial photography and computer networking are to be actively pursued to create an information system to assist in tax assessments, land use planning and development control, the report said.
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