Revised HUDA Master Plan ready

By T. Lalith Singh

HYDERABAD, DEC. 20. Work on revising the Master Plan for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area has been completed by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA). The revised plan is expected to be submitted to the State Government by April 2001, after holding public consultations during the next two months.

The revised plan approximately covers an area of 1,864 sq.km. and is spread over 106 gram panchayats and nine municipalities apart from the area falling under the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH).

Disclosing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, the HUDA Chairman, Mr. T. Krishna Reddy, said plans for the proposed land use in the non-municipal areas were ready and the draft plan would be notified for receiving objections and suggestions from the public and other interested groups.

The revised plan designed with the aid of remote sensing satellite imageries provided by the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) took into consideration various factors, including the proposed and existing land use. It would also address the changing needs from the earlier Master Plan of 1994 such as the earmarking of commercial and residential zones and education zones in tune with the growing population.

The remote sensing maps helped in identifying lakes, tanks and other physical features while designing the land use. According to estimates, the population of Hyderabad Metropolitan Area was expected to be around 177 lakhs by the year 2020 and as per the average national population density of 200 persons per hectare, Hyderabad with a spread of around 1,900 sq.km. would have enough free space for protecting these naturally sensitive zones.

In an effort to shift the pollution-causing industries from the city, the revised plan has come out with a compensatory package, wherein the areas having industrial units would be demarcated as commercial zones. In the existing Master Plan, about 40 km-area was earmarked as industrial zone, out of which a major chunk was lying vacant.

Detailing the progress on the special development plan for the areas proposed to be included as Cyberabad, the HUDA Vice- Chairperson, Mrs. Lakshmi Parthasarathy, said Vastu Shilpa Consultants, in consultation with HUDA, had almost finalised the road network. Efforts were on to use the existing road network, most of which happened to be in good condition. The work on the zonal regulation was also through and a preliminary presentation would be made to the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, at the earliest, she said.

The HUDA has also proposed to develop a shopping mall at the premises belonging to the Excise Department at Vithalwadi and a tender would be floated soon. Earlier, it was planned to sell the land for raising money for the coming National Games scheduled to be held in 2002. `Now, we have decided against selling the premises and, instead, are going for a 99-year lease for setting up the shopping mall,' Mrs. Parthasarathy said.

Work on the NTR Gardens was also moving at a brisk pace and the same would be thrown open for the public in January 2001. For the afforestation project, the Netherlands Government has cleared a sum of Rs.11.53 crores to be spent on developing green belts during the next nine months.

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