KOCHI: A revised structural plan for Kochi will soon be ready, Eapen Varghese, State Chief Town Planner (CTP), has said

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, Mr. Varghese said a notification for zoning amendments would be issued in a week.

The proposed variations would take care of at least 60-80 per cent of people's problems, said Mr. Varghese, who was in Kochi to participate in a National Town and Country Planners Congress. The regulations would be more flexible but would stick to the planning principle. Individuals, who would be able to construct a house in a small piece of land too, would largely feel the effect of the variations, Mr. Varghese said.

The zone regulation would also address the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) prevalent in various places. These changes were being proposed according to the available infrastructure, he said. Heritage zone, environment sensitive zone and small and major industry zones were some of the considerations that had gone into the new regulations.

The notification would call for people's suggestions and objections before the zoning variations were finalised, he said. People's participation in it would be honoured by accepting some of the viable suggestions. All sanctioned schemes would be revised henceforth, said Mr. Varghese. Notification for zoning regulations were earlier issued for Thiruvananthapuram city, he said.

Zones envisaged in the earlier plan had changed its character over the years because of developmental compulsions, he said. The rules in the earlier plan allowed exemptions, which gave rise to an uncharacteristic development of the cities, he said. The new system would not allow the Government any powers for exemption. This change was incorporated in the plan after a High Court Division Bench made such a direction, he said.

The revised structural plan involved a three-phase implementation. After the zoning regulation, the land-use pattern would be provided. A detailed survey would be brought out on the basis of the present land use pattern. This would be ready in six months. The third phase of a detailed structural plan would take another three years.

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