The Hindu Business Line : New master plan for Coimbatore in offing

Advertisement

Coimbatore March 5 A new master plan to ensure orderly development of Coimbatore will be ready shortly, according to the State Minister for Information and Town Planning and Urban Development, Mr Parithi Ilamvazhuthi.

The Town and Country Planning Department will also adopt e-governance, which would provide for transparency in administration and help track the status of applications submitted to it.

Inaugurating ConNext 2007, organised by the CII in Coimbatore recently, the Minister said Tamil Nadu was the 11th largest in terms of geographical area and sixth biggest in terms of population in the country. The percentage of urbanisation in Tamil Nadu was now 43.86 per cent and very few States in the country have reached this level.

`Unified approach'

Mr Ilamvazuthi said that only if the Government and construction industry adopt a unified approach and work together, a solution could be found to the issues confronting the people. Though construction activity ranked next only to agriculture in terms of employment generation, the fact that the number of skilled workers was less was a source of concern. It also presented a situation of people waiting for employment and this emphasised the need for developing professional skills, making it necessary for the government and non-governmental organisations to work in unison.

He said Tamil Nadu has been witnessing impressive growth in various sectors such as IT, biotechnology, automobile, textiles, pharma and education and urban development plans have a direct relationship with them. The State Government has accorded importance not only to Chennai but to other centres in the State as well and Coimbatore has a special place in that.

In view of the industrial development of the city, growth in population, basic needs etc and accepting the long pending demand for a master plan for the city, the government would shortly release a new master plan for Coimbatore and an exclusive Development Control Rules (DCR) for the city' would be finalised soon.

The Government was considering the issue of extending to other sectors the concessions given to IT with regard to the floor space index, he added

Mr R. Sellamuthu, Secretary, Urban Development Department, said the construction industry should strive for inclusive growth by fulfilling the needs of the common man by providing housing at reasonable costs.Mr Mathew Joseph, Regional Manager, HDFC Ltd, said Coimbatore has attracted the attention of real estate developers from not only within the country but also from abroad. He estimated that the city would see, in the near future, construction of about 1 million sq.ft to 1.5 million sq.ft of retail space and a massive boom in residential apartments.

Mr Jayakumar Ramdass, Chairman, CII, Coimbatore Zone, wanted Coimbatore to have a development authority on the lines of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.

More Stories on : Urban Development | Tamil Nadu

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page