Building city by building neighbourhoods, a city planning approach adopted in Chennai until a few decades ago will soon be revived, but with a difference.
Unlike the neighbourhood schemes such as Anna Nagar or Ashok Nagar, which were built earlier by acquiring large tracts of land, the government this time is proposing a joint venture scheme to develop them. Land owners who have more than 100 cares of land can partner with the government in this project, it is reliably learnt from state government sources.
In the proposed scheme, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will get into an agreement with land owners and temporarily take possession of it.
It will prepare the layout in consultation with the owners, obtain all required clearances from various agencies, pay development charges and other fees as needed, lay the roads and provide other infrastructure facilities.
The developed land will be given back to the owners for them to sell or build. The cost incurred will be recovered by the CMDA either by taking the proportionate share of developed land or cash.
The proposed scheme is a modified version of what was earlier announced as a part of the budget discussion. Earlier, the joint venture scheme was proposed for primarily developing residential plots.
What is now proposed is a more comprehensive scheme that integrates residential with other support activities. Not only plots, even group and multi-storied development will also be possible in the new scheme.
The guidelines for implementing this scheme are being finalised and invitation for joint venture will soon be published, said a government official.
