http://www.thehindu.com/2009/12/16/stories/2009121658670300.htm
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Kerala - Kochi
Incentives for surrendering land for road development
| Work on two roads will be completed in one month: Mayor |
VITAL LINK: Commissioning of the overbridge on the Thamannam-Pullepady road will considerably reduce traffic congestion on arterial roads in the city.
KOCHI: A Detailed Town Planning (DTP) scheme for acquiring land and implementing development activities on the Thamannam-Pullepady and Goshree-Mamangalam roads will be implemented.
The scheme will be for developing 200 metres from the central median on both flanks of the road. A survey for the project will begin on Wednesday and it will be completed within one month, said Mayor Mercy Williams here on Tuesday.
The Confederation of Indian Industries, Builders’ Association of India and Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India will carry out the survey and prepare the scheme, the Mayor told mediapersons.
The Thammanam road project will be implemented using financial support from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The civic body expects the cooperation of agencies such as the Greater Cochin Development Authority and Goshree Island Development Authority for the project, she said.
Once the DTP is cleared, the civic body will be able to provide incentives to persons who part with land for development. Incentives such as allowing increased Floor Area Ratio—the vertical development that can be carried out on a plot—and relaxations in the building rules are under consideration. This would prompt people to surrender land for the road project. The civic body would also clear the building plans and issue other statutory permits for these landowners in a time-bound manner, she said.
The corporation also proposes to provide development rights for those who surrender land and this would ensure that the landowners who contribute land for the project would get proportional economic benefits, said N. Anilkumar, chairman of the Development Standing Committee.
A rehabilitation package for the possible evictees would also form part of the scheme. The landowners will be given the transfer of development rights as part of the scheme. Under the scheme, they could use the benefits and relaxations in the building rules for any other property owned by them in lieu of the land surrendered for the road project, he said.
The civic authorities hope to complete the project during the term of the present council. There would be safeguards in the scheme against the possibility of land being frozen indefinitely for the project as happened in some road development schemes earlier, he said.
The government has, in principle, approved the scheme and various development agencies would be cooperating with the project, he said.
The DTP scheme for the Goshree-Mamangalam road would be taken up after the completion of the Thammanam-Pullepady scheme, said E.M. Sunilkumar, chairman of the Town Planning Standing committee.
N.A. Mani, T.K. Shamsudheen and K.V. Manoj, chairpersons of the standing committees, were also present at the press conference.
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This article got me thinking about the film we watched during dyuti on the Narmada Dam. It seems a lot has changed since that time. At least with this project, there is talk of doing a survey before the project. I would be interested to know what questions/indicators are included in this survey. Will the survey really address the concerns of poor people or the environment? Likewise, the article mentions incentives for people giving up their land as well as "developmental rights." It is great to see that, at least on the surface, such ideas are discuss at the forefront of the development project. However, again, I had a concern that for poor people, a decision to give up their land may be corrupted by money. A freely given decision is not always a just decision. Julia
ReplyDeleteBy the way, does anyone know if Narmada Bachao Andolan has a website? I googled it but with no luck. I did find this interesting website for "Friends of Narmada River":
ReplyDeletehttp://www.narmada.org/index.html
Thanks,
Julia