Prasant has identified and enumerated 22 infrastructural improvements that he feels Trivandrum urgently needs. Anish (scorpiogenus) has added his perspective to the items in the list. I think both these gentlemen have done an insightful and intuitive job which sadly seems to be difficult for our urban planners to emulate.
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prasant said... If Trivandrum has to grow to become a major destination in South India,it needs several infrastructural improvements
1.Making Airport- Kollam Road 6 or 8 lane road.
2.Construction of a Trivandrum-Thiruneveli-Tuticorin express way.
3.Ring road from Chirayinkizu to Katakada-Kaimanam (Vizinjam Stretch already exists) ( 4 lane).Conversion of Karamana-Peyad/Kattakada road to 6 lane.
4.More Star hotels
5.Atleast 2 International Convention Centers.
6.More MBA schools of National/International Standards.
7.Packaged tourism (covering Trivandrum,Kollam,Nagercoil,Tirunelveli districts).
8.Setting up of a professional Urban Development Authority.
9.Increasing the role of City Corporation from mere rag pickers to development facilitators.and calling it Metro Corporation.
10.Development of Additional runways/revamping of the old/scrapped runways in international airport with runway extending into the sea.
11.Setting up of Industrial Parks in other parts of district.
12.Seeking the help from the engineering colleges(for eg. CET) in and around City for city development.
13.Improving the mass transport system(City Bus) by forming seperate authority (Like BEST or BMTC) or increasing private participation in the same.
14.Increasing the number of auto services in and around city,ensuring fair wages.
15.Development of Kazhakkuttam/Chirayinkeezhu railway station to a major station(with the name Infocity or so(so that people can easily spell and also can serve as a brand name for the place).
16.Renaming Kochuveli rly Station and Spacecity Rly Station.
17.Setting up of a space technology and aviation museum ( with the help of Southern Air Command(IAF) and VSSC).
18.Setting up of an electronic City in the suburb.
19.Laying floor tiles in all the footpaths near all roads inside the city and near technopark,so that less dust is generated.
20.Creation of more Parks and Gardens inside the city and in suburbs.
21.Creation of a Commercial Street(at least 4 km straight Stretch) with full security and skyscapers/building specification away from Statue ( the area infamous for notorious activities and vandalisation,hampering the development of city.)
22.Creation of more Flyovers, Subways and Double Roads.
If atleast five things are implemented in a time bound manner,you can see the city growing by its own. - scorpiogenius said...
Prasanth & Ajay
Those 22 necessities for the development of Trivandrum as a global city could just be refubrished slightly. Im suggesting slight additions or changes to Prasanth's ideas, which I think will boost the overall development.
#1. Converting Bypass and the Kollam- Nagercoil highway into 6 lanes. If you dont wish to see another Hosur Road like nightmare, we must have minimum 8 lanes with dedicated bus lanes and service roads in Tvm-Attingal sector, soon to be a super Techno corridor!
#2. Tirunelveli Road is a great idea. I dont know the possibilities of a rail-road corridor, but Kazhakkuttam could be developed as a junction for the Trivandrum- Punalur Railway line via Nedumangad and could be connected to Tirunelveli through Shenkottai. Regarding suggestions #15 & #17, It would eventually happen and we could develop another junction @ Nedumangad, with a new line connecting Balaramapuram and to the proposed rail link to Vizhinjam. So this railway would serve as a rail-bypass to Trivandrum Central and satellite stations of Kochuveli & Kazhakkuttam. Interestingly, it would also constitute a circular railway around the city, as in Delhi, from Kazhakkuttam-Nedumangad- Balaramapuram/Neyyatinkara- Vizhinjam. This would turn Kazhakkuttam as a hub for suburban rail and would make it Dadar of Trivandrum.
#8. Regarding professional Urban Development Authority, we already have a good idea in your blog, don't we Ajay? 'Corporatising the Corporation'..in the November archive.
#11. Industrial Units...very very crucial! We cant rely only on IT, we need manufacturing/ trade/service industries to mushroom in the suburbs. May be Vizhinjam Terminal can act as a catalyst, but do we have the large chunks of land??
#13. Mass Transit. Well, BRTS is the best bet, economical and viable but we need dedicated lanes for buses and of course traffic discipline so that private vehicles dont ply on them. Suburban Rail System is on the cards already. Water Transport(Kollam-Kovalam through TS Canal) is an attractive option. Metro Rail, will not be financially successful as of now, but who knows, may be in 25 yrs time when Trivandrum reaches that level.
You are right Prasanth, just implement the above 5 ideas, and you will find the remaining 17 of your plans automatically becoming realities.
Cheers!
Anish
#1. Creation of a 6/8 lane IT corridor along the Mangalapuram - Vizhinjam axis: Earlier we had been taking of a 6 lane road from Kazhakkoottam to Kovalam. But with the arrival of the Rs 6000 Crore Technocity at Mangalapuram and the even more massive deep-water port at Vizhinjam, the length and capacity of the corridor has to be expanded. With GoK and NHAI finally agreeing on the BOT model for the 4-laning of the NH-47 from Trivandrum to Cherthalai and Kanyakumari, 4-laning of the IT Corridor will happen by 2010. By then, 4-lanes will be woefully inadequate and it will be prudent for GoK to either request NHAI to 6/8 lane this stretch or add the additional lanes by itself.
#2. Highway to Tirunelveli & Tuticorin: Trivandrum has always had strong trade links with the hinterland of Southern Tamilnadu. There is already a proposal for a road via Ambasamudram. With the coming of the Vizhinjam port, these areas could provide the land needed for setting up SEZs and port-based industries.
#3. and #22. - Ring roads and other improvements - They are already covered under the Mobility Plan proposed for JNNURM. Hopefully, with 80% Union funding, things should happen faster than the often-still born projects of the State Government.
#8. & # 9. - Setting up a professional Urban Development Authority: Totally agree to that one, as I had gone into in detail in an earlier post.
# 10. - Airport Expansion: This is a trouble-some item in view of the land constraints faced by any city-based airport. Trivandrum International Airport is right in the middle of the metropolitan area, which makes for very quick and convenient commuting but which also precludes acquisition of large extents of land. A possible solution is forming in my thoughts, and I will try to put it down in my next post.
# 15. - Railway expansion: Expansion of Trivandrum Central and Kochuveli stations is well underway. The suburban train service from Kollam to Neyyatinkara (till Trivandrum Central in Phase I) is already under implementation. Suggestions by Prasant and Anish to create a ring-railway will work in parallel with a ring-road system to decongest the core urban area and speed up the city's outward expansion.
There is a recommendation for an elevated Light Railway System in the Mobility Plan, which can be combined with the EMU-based ring railway line. The line from Punalur can pass via Venjaramoodu and Nedumangad to meet the main line at Nemom/Balaramapuram, bypassing the congested Trivandrum Central. A line from Kazhakoottam to either Venjaramoodu or Nedumangad would close the loop in the ring line. This alignment will minimise land acquisition within the urban area, which would prove very costly and difficult. Nemom is already proposed as a Coach Care Facility and suburban terminus. Thus it could be an ideal junction. Kazhakkoottam will be the other junction and probably will handle a greater passenger load considering its proximity to Technopark, Technocity, various Kinfra industrial parks and the upcoming residential hub of the city.
# 21. - Creation of a new Central Business District: Great idea! This could already be in motion along the Chackai - Kazhakkoottam stretch of the IT Corridor. With mall, IT space and hospitality projects by DLF, Plaza Centres, Unitech, Rahejas, Columbia Asia, Tamara and other international & national majors, in addition to those by regional majors coming up along this stretch, there will soon be a ultra-modern CBD coming up in parallel to the existing one.
Hope to get more great feedback like this in the future too. Keep your suggestions coming and thanks in advance!
hii friends, just i have gone through the suggessions, mentioned in this blog. Its fabulous, together we can make something. All capital cities, in south india, other than trivandrum are growing like anything. In our trivandrum, lots of things are there, but nobody is ther to take initiative. What my suggession is we can prepare one master plan, with an ordered study of the city and make a revolution in the same. We can make trivandrum as one among the major cities of south india.
ReplyDeleteregards,
Krishnakumar