VGTM master plan hits roadblock

Capital jurisdiction issues major hurdle for finalisation of plan. The government has also expanded the UDA limits up to Ponnur, Sattenapalli, Amaravathi in Guntur district and Nuzvid, Nandigama, Gudivada and Pamarru in Krishna districts.

The Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development Authority (VGTMUDA) appears to be in a fix over preparing its master plan for identifying and creating special zones for individual, agriculture and residential purposes.

Doubts persist among the authorities over whether or not the government would include the proposed capital region in the jurisdiction of the urban development authority and this had been delaying giving a final shape to the master plan.

With the exercise for land pooling set to begin, VGTM authorities are also not ruling out the possibility of the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department appointing another consultant exclusively for preparing a blueprint for the capital region. “At present, there is no clarity. If the government instructs the VGTMUDA to include the capital region, then the master plan preparation will have to be revised and this could delay the process further,” said a senior official of the VGTMUDA.

Expansion

VGTMUDA’s area was expanded from 1,954 sqkm to 7,063 sqkm in 2012. Following the expansion, the authorities appointed a private consultant to prepare a master plan document keeping in view the infrastructure requirements till 2031. The consultant is in the process of preparing the master plan since December last year and it is supposed to submit its plan within two years.

The government has also expanded the UDA limits up to Ponnur, Sattenapalli, Amaravathi in Guntur district and Nuzvid, Nandigama, Gudivada and Pamarru in Krishna districts.

When the UDA was formed in 1978, its jurisdiction was limited to only 1,954 sqkm with the inclusion of the above locations from Krishna and Guntur districts, the area has now increased to 7,063 sqkm.

Land pooling

The government has recently constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Social Welfare Minister R. Kishore Babu, Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana, Agriculture Minister P. Pulla Rao, Irrigation Minister D. Umamaheswara Rao and Information and Public Relations Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy to work out modalities for land pooling for the State capital .

Apart from Ministers, Principal Secretaries of Law, Finance and Revenue will be the members of the team, while the Principal Secretary of Municipal Administration will act as the member convener of the group.