Property Plus
Coimbatore
Pressure spirals as the city matures
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Some localities in the city reflect the joys and pains of growth it is witnessing, writes M. Soundariya Preetha
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— Photos: M. Periasamy.
MOVING FORWARD: As the city grows it needs to create adequate facilities for its people and vehicles.
Five minutes on a rocking chair, recollecting the city we knew five years ago and juxtaposing it with the current trends could reveal a thing or two. There is much to rejoice and yet be cautious, much to seek and settle down with. And, some localities project the trends candidly for us to take a cue and plan.
Coimbatore continues to witness a demand for space; has triggered a retail space need; may have to face regulations for a sustainable development, and has started creating public infrastructure to meet the increasing needs.
For instance, let us look at the demand for lodging accommodation even on monthly rent. A general increase in employment opportunities and the gradual penetration of the information technology sector population has created a demand for this facility is some localities. Kattoor and its neighbouring areas that have quite a number of lodges, has only seen more such infrastructure coming up in the recent years, thanks to the demand.
Commercial Space
Any locality that is significantly residential will also see a need for commercial space to cater to the daily needs of the population. With land prices soaring on Avinashi Road, one area that started attracting residential project investments was the locality just off Trichy Road. “It is a growth corridor for residential projects and that will lead to retail crowding,” points out Arati Tare, Assistant Manager, Research and Consultancy at Knight Frank. Usually, shopping area for consumer products develop within five to six minutes of walking distance from the residential layouts. In the recent years, several retail projects have come up on Trichy Road.
With spiralling demand, we hear and see a large number of residential and commercial projects in any part of the city, and sometimes, this could lead to regulating the development for a planned growth.
Regulations
— Photos: M. Periasamy.
Parking space created by Coimbatore Corporation on Cross Cut Road
The Coimbatore Corporation proposes to ban construction of multi-storeyed/commercial buildings on Race Course Road. The response to the move is mixed, says an official of the local body. The aim is to ensure the area does not become congested. The official explains that a 1500 sq.ft house will have just four people living in it. However, if a 1,500 sq.ft commercial space is developed, it will have at least 100 people moving in and out of it every day and an equal vehicle population. When a place develops, congestion should be controlled at an early stage, he says.
Meanwhile, with all these developments the city starts feeling the pressure on its public infrastructure too – roads, parking spaces, etc.
On Cross Cut Road, to cope with the increasing number of vehicles that struggle to find a parking space the Coimbatore Corporation has created a parking lot for that area.
“We plan to have a multi-level parking space there and encourage private players to create similar facilities,” says the local body official. The parking lot will meet the requirements of the present traffic development. But if it increases manifold, we need more such parking areas, he says.
Awareness has gone up among the public and the official machinery on the need for more parking space and we should start creating them now, he adds.
Thus, it is happening on all fronts of the Coimbatore as it prepares to accommodate a larger population and meet their needs.
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