Kerala - Kochi   

Master plan: move to seek Government help

KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation has decided to seek the support of the State Government in completing the preparation of the master plan for the city.

The civic body has decided to seek financial and infrastructural support from the State Government. Moreover, the civic body will also ask the State Government not to transfer officials of the Kochi Corporation who are engaged in the preparation of the master plan till the work is over. The Mayor of Kochi will approach the Chief Minister and the Minister for Local Self-Government with these demands.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting convened by the Kochi Mayor to review the progress of the plan preparation recently.

The civic body has also fixed a revised schedule for the completion of the master plan. The revised deadline for the completion of the plan is March 31, 2008.

The meeting also decided to seek the support of Regional Town Planners for the completion of the work. A senior official from the Regional Town Planning Department will oversee the completion of the remaining part of the job.

The support of the Office of the Regional Town Planner was also offered for the Kochi Corporation for completing the Plan at the meeting.

It was in January 2005 that the Corporation embarked on the ambitious project for preparing a master plan for the city. A deadline of 6 months was also fixed. However, even after several extensions, the work could not be completed. Though most of the Indian cities that had a master plan got the document prepared by private agencies, Kochi Corporation decided to prepare it on its own.

Two years have passed since the studies as part of the plan document preparation were commissioned. During this period, several aspects of the city life including land use pattern and population figures might have undergone drastic changes. The reports prepared for these segments need to be updated, civic authorities said.

The Corporation has already shelled out Rs.33 lakh for plan preparation and the Mayor’s Fund were utilised for the purpose. The civic body also owes Rs.50 lakh to various consultants. These firms or individuals were engaged in preparation of project reports in various sectors.

The payment to these agencies will be made once they give updated results of various subjects allotted to them. The Corporation has completed nearly 80 per cent of the work using its own fund.

It has not received any support so far from any agencies, said E.M. Sunil Kumar, chairman of the Town Planning Standing Committee of the Corporation.

Though the previous Government had offered financial support for the preparation of the plan, it never materialised. Kochi needs Government support as it was this city that first decided to have a master plan, he said.

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