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Urban Planning

Town planning department to survey traffic and pedestrian volume

Friday, 13 December 2013 11:56 administrator
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The Times of India            13.12.2013

Town planning department to survey traffic and pedestrian volume

MALAPPURAM: As part of preparing a detailed development plan for Manjeri town, the town and country planning department will conduct a detailed traffic and pedestrian survey. The survey, which will chiefly assess traffic and pedestrian volume, and its impact in town development, is expected to start in the last week of December.

Traffic congestion in Manjeri has been an issue for some time now and which major traffic revisions had failed to resolve. The survey will be conducted as part of the department's efforts to prepare master plan for seven municipalities, including Manjeri

. "The survey will have five major segments, including vehicle volume, pedestrians, speed and delay tests, parking and origin-destination (OD) survey. The survey works would be carried out by external agencies," said the deputy town planner of Malappuram, Kaja Sharafudheen.

While the vehicle volume survey will assess the rush along various routes, at different times and the type of vehicles, the pedestrian survey will focus on pedestrian movement in major junctions. Available parking area and future parking facility projects would be studied in the parking survey.

Sharafudheen said the survey will help reach conclusions regarding bypass requirement, problems at junctions, pedestrian needs , specific issues during peak hours,

etc. He said authorities can depend on the survey data while implementing temporary traffic regulations in town and while announcing new traffic systems. Recently, the authorities had to revise the traffic system for buses in town, thrice with the latest system also triggering protests from commuters and bus operators.

Meanwhile, the process of preparing master plan for the development of Malappuram, Manjeri, Ponnani, Kottakkal, Perinthalmanna, Tirur and Nilambur towns, is underway.

 

Property owners to pay for squatting on civic utility space

Monday, 09 December 2013 12:08 administrator
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The Times of India               09.12.2013

Property owners to pay for squatting on civic utility space

AHMEDABAD: Armed with a new resolution, the estate and town planning department of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in the next few months will set off to either acquire or seek monetary compensation from property owners in the city where there is a shortfall in the required 40% land for civic amenities as mandated in the Gujarat Town Planning And urban Development Act. However, this deduction will not be applicable to the schemes which have already been finalized by the government.

The issue will stir a hornet's nest as many residential societies are not clear whether the builders or the societies have to pay for the shortfall. The basic purpose of this mandatory land deduction is to lay utility lines like drainage and water supply lines, construct roads and space for common social amenities.

For almost two decades, town planning officers in cases of almost 112 TP schemes in the city covering 10,933 hectares, had not deducted the mandatory 40% land before allowing construction. This was largely done under political influence where the property owner got away by paying a miniscule amount as "betterment charges" in lieu of keeping the land. A large part of this problem lies in the former Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) areas which were acquired by the AMC in 2006.

After a detailed exercise spanning almost three years, the officials found that in many TP schemes deduction had been only 5%, 13% and 25%. The issue is going to trigger litigations as in the majority of the cases builders have booked profits and have already handed over the functioning of the housing societies to the residents. The anomaly was found in 86 TP schemes that were prepared 25 years ago and are in various stages of approvals. In 14 new TP schemes being prepared, the AMC is planning to remove anomalies.

"We see this problem to be of some magnitude in the eastern belt especially in Isanpur, Hathijan, Ramol, Nikol, Naroda areas where there are a number of societies that have new owners. In the western part, there are plots which are still open and can be acquired by the AMC," says a senior town planning officer. "Even if residents drag us to court, the citizens will be at loss as the deduction is as per the GTP Act," adds the official.

Under the new resolution, property owners will be liable to pay for the shortfall as per the prevailing jantri rates for up to 500 square metres, wherever there is no scope for acquisition. In case of open plots where the shortfall is more than 500 square metres, the owners will be liable to pay as per the jantri rates for the first 500 square metres and almost double the jantri rates for any extra piece of land above 500 square metres.

"It's like the impact fee now. The builders constructed and illegally sold properties to the gullible people" says Dinesh Mankad, a resident on CG Road.

 

50% highrises in Kozhikode violate building rules

Saturday, 07 December 2013 09:55 administrator
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The Times of India               07.12.2013

50% highrises in Kozhikode violate building rules

KOZHIKODE: A random survey found that nearly 50% of high-rise buildings in Kozhikode Corporation have violated the Kerala Municipality Building Rules (KMBR).

A team led by Eapen Varghese, chief town planner in the vigilance wing of the Kerala state local self-government body department, found that 50% buildings have violated the rules. The inspections were conducted at 25 high-rise buildings in the corporation limit.

The team visited the sites on the direction given by chief minister Oommen Chandy to urban Affairs minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali on the basis of complaint of Campaign Committee Against Corruption.

K P Vijayakumar, convener of the committee, urged the chief minister to conduct detail inquiry into irregularities in the sanctioning of building plans in the city corporation limit from 2005 to 2012.

The team conducted two -day inspections in the sites of buildings constructed on more than 5,000 square metres area and above five storey in the corporation limit.

The team comprising chief town planner (vigilance) and northern zone town planner (vigilance) K V Abdul Malik visited the construction sites. It found violations of building rules in providing side open spaces and parking space.

The buildings don't have sufficient side open spaces and parking space in comparison to its size. Usually, a parking unit is given for 60 to 150 square metres in buildings, which is missing in many high rise buildings.

The team members said that these violations can be rectified in some of the under construction buildings. The officials have directed the city corporation to provide details about plans of all the high-rise buildings which were found violating the rules. The team will submit the report to the state after checking all the documents related to the building plans at the corporation as well as the building owners.

The officials have also found that the waste disposal systems set up at majority of the buildings are not functional. The state will direct the corporation to demolis illegally constructed portions of the buildings after submitting the report. The corporation had given permission for building plans during 2008 to 2012.

Though the team members have asked the city corporation authorities to provide files on a total of 100 buildings, the civic body had given files of only 15 high rise buildings.

The team members have also come across instances of architects preparing structural drawings of buildings violating the KMBR.

 
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