The city Corporation is all set to launch the exhaustive process of preparing a comprehensive master plan for the State capital.
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.K. Prasanth said that the efforts, which were being undertaken in association with the Department of Town and Country Planning, aimed at preparing the development framework in a time-bound and precise manner.
Glaring lacuna
Mr. Prasanth said that the lack of a comprehensive master plan had prevented the city from a prime space in several schemes that were implemented by the Central government and various agencies towards urban development and revamp.
This also affected the State capital’s prospects when compared with other cities in the country.
The master plan for the city was necessary to lay the foundation for future development.
The field surveys for the geographic information system (GIS)-based master plan will commence on October 16.
Surveys
The exercise will be undertaken by the Corporation as part of conducting a socio-economic and land use surveys.
Mr. Prasanth said that public participation would be ensured at each stage of the preparation process.
Suggestions would be collected from across the city prior to formulating the master plan.
Recommendations that would benefit the master plan would be generated through ward-level meetings, stakeholder meetings, and by utilising the platform of websites and WhatsApp.
Transperancy
Efforts would also be made to ensure transparency throughout the process.
The Corporation had conducted a special meeting of the 18 working groups constituted for the purpose of the master plan a few days ago.
Sectors
The groups that focused on various sectors including health, agriculture, tourism, environment and industries will submit recommendations, which will all be compiled at a later stage.
The Mayor has also urged the Corporation councillors to rectify mistakes that had crept into the preparation of the controversial draft master plan 2031.
Some of the recommendations of the master plan had sparked protests in various parts of the city.