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Satellite townships, solution to urban clustering

Integrated satellite townships on the outskirts could workout as an alternative residential option

TOWERING High-rise apartments have become part of the urban culture Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Trek or drive up to the top of any of the hills like Dolphin's Nose or Kailasagiri and look down for a city view. One would get a real picture of the phrase `concrete jungle'. The city is virtually covered with apartments and high-rise buildings that look like thousands of matchboxes placed in rows and columns leaving very little space for the occasional small patches of green.

"Geographically, Visakhapatnam city looks like as if it is placed within a bowl. It is covered by the hills on three sides and the Bay of Bengal on one side. There is practically no scope for horizontal expansion and that is the reason why the city has taken off vertically to accommodate its people," says J. Mallikarjun (Balaji) of Balaji Construction Limited.

Apartment culture is on the rise and the last decade has seen almost every area in the city being covered by this concept. Colonies like Dwarakanagar, Dabagardens and New Colony that were earlier known to accommodate individual bungalow type houses have given way to group housing and apartment culture. Only a few independent houses remain sandwiched between the high-rise buildings. In such a scenario is the culture progressing in a healthy way?

According to a reputed builder, the feasible rate per square feet for a residential flat within the city limit should not be less than Rs.2,200. If that is so the next question would be, is the rate affordable and are the builders charging that rate? The answer would be a clear `No'.

Neither is it affordable to the middle-class segment which dreams of owning a flat, as a normal two-bedroom flat would then exceed Rs.20 lakhs, nor does the builder charge that rate. Then how come the business is on the boom? The simple answer is ` violation of rules'.

A couple of top builders in the city are of the opinion that the maximum prescribed FSI (floor space index) is 1.25 in the city. Keeping the FSI criterion on the one hand and the soaring land prices, interest on capital, fluctuating construction costs and profit margin of the builders on the other hand, the rate cannot be less than Rs.2,200 per sft. Hence, most builders in an attempt to keep the rate down within the affordable reach and to make some money, violate the FSI beyond 100 per cent and that's how the apartment culture is on the rise.

Significance of FSI

The FSI is prescribed by the Municipal Corporation keeping in view the civic amenities and infrastructure in different areas. Giving an example Balaji says, "If the infrastructure in Kirlampudi was made to support 100 families today, the area could be inhabited by over 1,000 families, thanks to the apartments. If FSI is not adhered to then there would be a total collapse of the basic infrastructure system like water, drainage and power. But in the present scenario there is no alternativeto providing shelter to the people of this budding metro other than the apartments within the city limits."

Satellite townships

However, Mr. Balaji suggests that satellite townships in the outskirts could be a viable solution. According to him places like Rushikonda, Madhurwada and Pendurthy could be explored for such townships. "The government should give clearance for mega integrated townships projects on the outskirts. VUDA already has got a few projects earmarked for these areas but the initiative should be to encourage government-public-private projects."

Talking of integrated townships Mr. Balaji says that the projects should be big enough to accommodate over 200 families per project and contain all the amenities like swimming pool, gym, department stores, school, library, parks and water and sewage treatment plants.

SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE

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