Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday stressed on adopting urban-planning strategies for a planned development of cities.
Omar was speaking at a meeting convened here to review and discuss the implementation of proposed urban-planning schemes and policies aimed at transforming the Union Territory’s urban landscape to bring about planned development.
“The housing and urban development department should initiate implementation by taking up projects under land pooling, transferable development rights (TRD) and transit-oriented development (TOD) to create a few success stories that would infuse confidence among the stakeholders to adopt these urban-planning strategies for the overall development of our cities,” he said.
At the meeting, the chief minister was briefed on the land-pooling policy, including its background, guiding principles and objectives.
Under the policy, developers or private landowners shall come together to pool their land and obtain authorisation for development.
While authorising development, the urban governance agencies concerned shall keep sufficient land for the development of infrastructure, wide roads, parks, open spaces and other amenities, and the remaining land would be returned to the landowners, which they would share proportionately among themselves, an official spokesperson said.
The benefits of land pooling for various stakeholders would be that the value of the land would increase for the landowners and better infrastructure would be created as compared to the irregular land plots pooled by the landowners developing that land parcel.
This would help create infrastructure as a sustainable alternative to conventional land-acquisition methods, the spokesperson said.
He said the scheme will create a win-win situation for both the government and various stakeholders, including individual landowners and real-estate developers.
The meeting also delved into the TDR policy, focusing on its broad contours, objectives and mechanisms. The potential use of TDR for heritage properties, ensuring their preservation while enabling urban growth, was also discussed.
Under the TDR scheme, for a piece of land surrendered by the landowner or a developer free of cost for public purposes, such as road widening, public passage, conservation, heritage and other infrastructure development, shall be granted a non-financial compensation in the form of a TDR certificate, specifying the built-up area (BUA) or floor area ratio (FAR) given to the landowner or developer, which he can utilise in the remaining part of his property or build elsewhere and even monetise by selling TDR to any other developer or user in receiving areas, the spokesperson said.
He said this would allow developers to build over and above the permissible FAR for land surrendered in congested areas.
The concept of TOD was also discussed, with an emphasis on its objectives to promote sustainable urban mobility and ensure planned development around public transport stations. The stipulations of TOD would facilitate compact, walkable urban spaces around transit hubs.
Separate discussions were also held on proposed services under Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) for municipalities and urban local bodies across Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides, the meeting discussed management of waste-disposal facilities, cleaning of roads, drains and water bodies following the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, the spokesperson said.
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