CMDA plans to develop sport facilities in OSR

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is planning to evolve a scheme to utilise open space reservation (OSR) in large scale developments for developing sport facilities.

Sources said plans are there to evolve a scheme for developing sports facilities in the reserved OSR in coordination with local body and the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.

As the city is lacking open spaces for recreation and sports due to growing demand for land, sources said Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is looking at several proposals to develop the OSR besides the green cover by planting trees.

The development regulations of the second Master plan for Chennai stipulates that in sites with an extent of 10,000 square metre or more, 10 per cent of the area excluding road shall be reserved as Open Space Reservation (OSR) and shall be transferred to the authority or the local body designated.

Since the Second Master Plan in Chennai, 13,35553,111 square metre of land has been marked as OSR. These OSR lands are maintained as parks by the local body.

CMDA while sanctioning the planning proposal takes over these reserved sites and hands it over to local bodies for development and maintenance of parks and playfields.

Sources said the plan is to nurture the youngsters in various sports and also provide them with sport infrastructure.

Interestingly, it is not only sports but also the dwindling green cover which is worrying CMDA and Chennai Corporation. Last year the corporation has proposed to build 100 new parks in 2012-13 in the added areas of Chennai Corporation.

The green cover plan and utilization of OSR for fruitful activisties comes in the wake of unplanned urbanization which is affecting the landuse and landcover of the area besides the local climate.

The climatic changes in the urban areas are often characterized by increase in air temperatures compared to the nearby areas which is termed as the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE). Major factors contributing to the elevated air

temperatures include the size of the city, population, reduced vegetation cover, increased density of built-up spaces, thermal properties of materials, increased energy or fuel consumption, waste heat from buildings and vehicular emissions.

Interestingly, a study has highlighted the existence of heat island effect in the city of Chennai with increasing air temperatures in a radial fashion from the suburbs towards the city centre where the mean max Urban Heat island intensity reaches 2.48°C during summer and 3.35°C during winter. This has stressed the need for protecting the green cover in the city and using the OSR for useful activities