Detailed Development Plans of five areas to be finished by 12th five-year plan

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The detailed development plans based on Second Master Plan land use classification and strategy in five areas that include Villivakam, Velachery, Ambattur, Nazarathpet and Perumbakkam is expected to finish in the 12^th five-year plan.

The work on preparation of detailed development plans, which have not been prepared for the last 20 years, began during the DMK regime for the five areas but apart from Villivakam, the others are still in the nascent stage.

Prepared under the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, DDPs help in land use planning. Currently, the survey work of Villivakam has been finished and it is under the mapping stage. Interestingly, the development plans of other four areas are still in the nascent stage, sources said.

Similarly, there is also a proposal to expand the Chennai Metropolitan area jusrisdiction into a Chennai Mega Region. Sources said Chennai Metropolitan area is limited to 1189 square km which is the smallest metropolitan area in the country as such CMDA has decided to review Chennai Metropolitan Planning Area, declared in 1973-74, by taking into account the faster development taking place in areas beyond the declared metropolitan areas such as Sriperumbudur, Kelambakkam, Thiruvallur, M M Nagar etc.

Meanwhile, in a bid to upscale the infrastructure facilities in the village panchayat areas that come under the Second Master Plan, Tamilnadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited has submitted a proposal by grouping the fast local bodies in rest of the Chennai Metropolitan Area as four clusters to prepare Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Plan at a cost of Rs 75 lakh.

Sources said a comprehensive infrastructure development plan will be prepared in an integrated manner for the provision of infrastructures facilities in the rest of Chennai Metropolitan Area which will enable the local bodies to prepare and pose projects to access grants and other financial assistance from various source.

The Second Master Plan has estimated that the population of Chennai Metropolitan Area by 2026 will be 126 lakh and the panchayat areas will grow at a faster rate than the municipalities