KOCHI: Kochi corporation council on Saturday approved the amended master plan for Kochi municipal corporation area – 2040 and decided to send it to the government for final approval.
The corporation had published a draft master plan in April this year seeking the opinion of the public. It received 173 comments from the public and including these suggestions the master plan has been amended.
Mayor M Anilkumar has said that a master plan for Kochi Urban agglomeration area will be prepared by including nearby local bodies, in the next phase. A joint planning committee comprising representatives from all local bodies will be constituted to head the formulation of the master plan, he added.
The master plan comprises two parts. The first part is about details of Kochi, problems in respective sectors and analysis of it. The second part contains details on the visions on development, suggestions and development control regulations. The master plan includes maps showing current and proposed land use, as well as the road network.
The master plan has been prepared on the GIS platform. Survey numbers of the lands have been recorded on the module map of the land usage map. Once the government approves the plan, the proposed land usage map will be uploaded on the website of the corporation. This will help the corporation officials, licensees and the public regarding the building construction permits. The mayor said the master plan has given priority to public transportation facilities.
It has also included ‘risk information details’ to identify places which are safe for investment in future. Buffer zones have been proposed to be provided in seven-meter width on both sides of water bodies to prevent encroachment.
Three special zones — wholesale market, urban agriculture facilitation centre and IT Industries — have been proposed in the plan. Around 80 proposed development projects have also been included in it.
Since Kochi is not a planned city, all the problems being faced by the city could not be addressed completely through a single master plan, the mayor said. Once the government approves the master plan, the corporation would develop local area plans for specific areas within its limits, the mayor added.
