Coimbatore and Tiruppur will get Development Authorities this year, Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana said here on Friday.
Speaking at a stakeholders consultative meeting on the draft Master Plan for Coimbatore, he said the State government would form development authorities for Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, and Hosur this year. It would look at more cities in the coming years. The government had also taken up GIS-based master plan work for 17 towns across the State. The local planning area for Coimbatore, which was expanded from 1,288 sq.km to 1,526 sq.km, would be notified shortly.
E. Saravanavelraj, Director of Town and Country Planning, said the existing Master Plan for Coimbatore was more than 25 years old. The plan was to increase the local planning area by 18.5 % and the deliverables of the revised Master Plan would be to provide equity in urban service, ensure sustainability of environment, efficient use of resources, and preservation of heritage sites. Just 7 % of liveable area in the State was planned area.
It was the vision of the government to increase it to 22 % in 10 years.
According to a presentation on the proposed Master Plan for Coimbatore, the officials said 13 more villages would be added to the existing 56 villages in the new local planning area. The growth centres were more in the north and east.
The proposal is to increase industrial area to 7.45 %, institutional area to 4.4 %, commercial areas to 3.6 %, and residential areas to nearly 40 %, they said.
