CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has become the first state in the country to get Rs 400 crore grant from the centre for preparing masterplans for eight cities with a population of more than half a million before the deadline of January 15, 2024, said sources from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP).
“We submitted the masterplans for Coimbatore, Madurai, Erode, Tiruppur, Trichy, Salem, Tirunelveli and Vellore on January 13, 2024 and got the grant of Rs 50 crore each for the eight cities,” the official said.
He said DTCP has extended the date for receiving objection and suggestions for the draft masterplans of eight cities published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette by more than a month.
The GIS-based masterplan for the eight cities was given consent by the government under Section 24 of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971. The date has been extended to May 15, 2024. This was necessitated due to the Lok Sabha election, he said.
Nearly 95% of the state area is subjected to unplanned growth. The state will be focussing on four components while preparing the masterplan. These include a comprehensive mobility plan for eight cities similar to the transport roadmap being prepared for Chennai besides focussing on blue green infrastructure, which include identifying waterbodies for preservation and declaring it in the masterplan.
Based on the proposals identified under different sectors of the masterplan such as transportation, economy, housing, environment, infrastructure, heritage and culture, tourism etc, the land use plan has been prepared for the planning area. Land suitability analysis was done to allocate land use scientifically.
The state is eligible for funds worth Rs 1,305 crore from the centre to implement projects relating to urban planning reforms which includes creation of masterplans for eight cities, urban forests and land pooling schemes.