As many of you may already be aware of, the new draft Master Plan for Trivandrum is ready - after a gap of over a quarter of a century, the one in force today dates back from 1984 or so! The plan has been published on the website of the Trivandrum Corporation, for the general public - you and me - to review and submit our suggestions. A word of caution, the hefty 24 MB document has nearly 400 pages, so it may take some time to go through it!
The Corporation and the Town Planning Department, which authored the draft, recently also conducted a seminar to provide a venue for suggestions to be aired.
Together with a number of like-minded friends, I have compiled a list of inputs to improve the draft and make it into a true vision-setting and operational document that can help set Trivandrum on the course to be a world-class city rivaling Singapore - the best benchmark for us - within a decade.
The document is below, for your review.
Here are some of the salient points in the document for a quick review.
- The current draft confines its
recommendations and plans to the Trivandrum Corporation area in most part. Even
after its recent expansion, the Corporation forms but one part of the larger
Trivandrum Metropolitan Region which encompasses a significant portion of the
Trivandrum District
- Key developments such as
Technocity – which will see the development of over 2 Crore sq.ft. of
commercial space, employee over 100,000 IT professionals, involve an investment
in excess of Rs 10,000 Crores and make very significant contributions to the
economy of the district and State – is located outside the current geographical
scope of the master plan as are areas such as Nedumangad which host strategic
institutions such as the IISER and IIST as well as the
Balaramapuram-Neyyatinkara axis which is a nearly continuous, high density
stretch of urbanization which extends South from the Corporation area till the
border with Tamil Nadu
- Therefore, it is recommended
that the scope of the master plan be
extended till Attingal in the North, Nedumangad and the foothills of the
Western Ghats in the East and till Neyyatinkara/Parassala in the South, and
encompassing all the areas, already urbanized or otherwise, between the border
of the Corporation and these peripheral urban centers
- As mentioned above, a formal Trivandrum Metropolitan Area (TMA)
has to be established by due process by the State Government. The master
plan must act as both define this area and set the direction for development
within it.
- · In terms of providing increased
density – over and above KMBR, it is best that this be focused in relation to transportation availability and economic activity.
- Increasing density in a purely concentric
fashion will ignore the practical issues, such as the paucity of wide roads
even within many parts of the core urban area that are necessary to support
high density or the fact that focusing
density around economic hub encourages the Work-Live-Play lifestyle paradigm
which helps to minimize commuting (and the consequent vehicular use and
pollution) by co-locating all the aspects of life
- · It is recommended that density incentives be provided to areas
located along primary transportation axes such as the NH-66 (Attingal to
Vizhinjam), old NH-66 (between Kazhakkoottam and Kaliyikkavila), M.C. Road and
other 4/6 lane roads within the metro regions, as well as along the proposed
route of the mass transit system (not just the current alignment but along the
entire network as proposed in Section 3). The latter promotes Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and
will help improve the viability and effectiveness of the MRTS network. These
density incentives may be up to 1.5-2 times the FAR prescribed in KMBR for each
use but must be accompanied by stringent parking requirements.
- · The following new ring roads need to be laid
out:
o First Outer Ring Road: Kaniyapuram-Vembayam-Karakulam-Vilappilsala-Balaramapuram-Vizhinjam
o Second Outer Ring Road: Attingal – Nedumangad-Malyinkeezhu-Neyyatinkara
- A single mass transit route will not suffice for a metro area the
size of Trivandrum with well over 700,000 daily trips.
- The master plan must
incorporate a comprehensive mass transit
network that serves the entire metro area.
- This will be based around a multi-route mass transit system (viz
the monorail) but also incorporate other modes of transport such as commuter
rail, water transport and buses.
- The monorail system must be
quickly expanded with at least the following two additional routes:
- Route 2: Kazhakkoottam – Aakulam –
Airport (Chackai) – Pettah – Palayam – Vellayambalam – Peroorkada – Nedumangad
(It could terminate at Peroorkada in Phase I).
- Route 3: Vizhinjam – Kovalam – Eanchakkal – Airport – Kochuveli – Veli –
Aakulam – KIMS - Medical College – Pattom – Kowdiar – Peroorkada – Civil
Station– Manathala – Vembayam.
- An integrated water supply system to cover the entire metro area has
to be established. This needs to be immediately rolled out to cover the newly
added areas of the corporation but also to the outlying areas of the metro
areas, with new systems in areas currently not covered and by linking together
existing stand-alone systems. The current 300 MLD capacity of the city’s water
system has to be progressively increased to 500-600 MLD within the next 5 years. This will involve setting up
additional processing capacity and also tapping new water sources such as the
Neyyar and Peppara dams.
- Considering even a water return
volume of 50%, the city will need at least 250
MLD of sewage processing capacity in a few years, with the current STP at
Muttathara having a capacity of only 107 MLD. A second STP of 150 MLD capacity (two phases of 100 and 50 MLD) is
therefore proposed within the Veli-Kazhakkottam Industrial Estate.
- In the next 10-15 years, power
consumption in the metro area is likely to reach the 2500 Kwh/person/year level
seen as a global average (and already in emerging markets such as China). This
will necessitate about 1000 MW of
generation capacity to meet the needs of the metro area and very likely
much more if we take the increasing scale of commercial and industrial
activities into account. A gas turbine power plant, fueled by natural gas from
an LNG import terminal built at Vizhinjam will be the ideal choice to meet this
need. The power plant can be developed in two phases of 1000 MW each and the
excess power exported to the rest of Kerala/India.
- Vizhinjam is the best-suited port in India for LNG import because of its proximity to gas sources such as Australia,
Indonesia, East Africa, the US and Russia, as well as its deep draft. An LNG
terminal at Vizhinjam can be leveraged for a metro area wide gas distribution network as well as conversion of vehicles to cleaner CNG,
starting with government and public transport vehicles.
- The availability of gas will also promote the
development of micro-grids which are
localized, interconnected loads such as buildings within a campus that share
power generation and chilling capacity. This arrangement is very cost-effective, efficient and
resilient (in case of grid failure).
- Economic development - salient projects recommended include an international convention and trade center (under the landlord model of development), world-class logistics facility for Vizhinjam, Aerospace manufacturing cluster, Knowledge City and a strategic land bank for major economic development projects.
- A key requirement to implement the plan is a new agency, the Trivandrum
Metropolitan Development Authority (TMDA) which should have the following
powers over the entire metro area which must be formalized:
- Issue all building permits and statutory
clearances using a unified code for the entire metro area as per the guidelines
of the master plan, KMBR, National Building Code etc
- Plan, finance and develop all public infrastructure under the master plan that does not fall into the mandate of
existing agencies such as VISL, AAI, KWA, Indian Railways etc
- Plan, finance and develop economic development projects, where not already under a specific agency. Even if under a
specific agency, like the department of tourism (in the case of the convention
center), TMDA can still be the financing and executing agency
- Act as the landlord/project sponsor for
PPP development projects and own the land and/or facilities and to collect
revenues
- Raise funds for development projects by
the issue of bonds, raising debt from development finance institutions (World
Bank, ADB, JICA et c) and from commercial lenders and by levying fees/taxes.
- Periodically update the master
plan (minor revisions once every two years, major updates every five years).
and act as it custodian.
- The TMDA must have a specialized economic development wing,
modeled along the lines of the New York City Economic Development Corporation
(NYCEDC) that creates strategic visions and plans, formulates project
proposals, raises funding, oversee project execution and, promotes and
facilitates private investment.
- With
the massive volume of transportation infrastructure development planned in the
next 10 years and the ever-growing transportation volumes in the metro area, a dedicated agency is called for to
integrate the development and operation of all modes of transportation.
This will be the Trivandrum Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (TMTA).
As I mentioned in the beginning, these are but a select few of the points in the document. The Town Planning department is accepting suggestions till June 6, and I will make sure that the cumulative set of inputs makes it to the right decision makers and is given due consideration, if all of you could chip in with your points by June 4 via email or the comments facility here.
Remember, each of us has a different perspective on our beloved city and a different set of experiences and backgrounds, so we may each have at least one more point to add. More the merrier, so don't hesitate, the next time a chance like this comes along may be in 2038 (let's hope it comes a lot sooner than that!).
Thanks in advance, folks!
