Telangana developing new city with workforce comparable to its capital Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A new city, with a workspace comparable to Hyderabad’s, will soon be developed on the outskirts here. Further down Gachibowli and Financial District on the west of Hyderabad, the new city of Kokapet will accommodate a workforce of 5 lakh on its 90-million-sq ft workspace. To put this in perspective, the entire city of Hyderabad has a workspace of 110 million sq ft.

Speaking about this for the first time, principal secretary of the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department Arvind Kumar told the editorial team of The New Indian Express that the new city would be developed keeping in mind the lessons learnt from the misplaced development of Hitec City. At the moment, Hitec City has become such a headache for the State government that it plans to rework the region and include the missing links, Kumar revealed.

With a favourable order from the Supreme Court, the government has gone ahead with clearing 166 acres of land for the development of Kokapet. Around 250-to-300 acres of HMDA land are also available. Apart from a network of roads, the city will have proper underground stormwater drains and a sewerage network. All cables will be underground and roads will be 36 m or 45 m wide, he said.

Emphasis will be placed on public transport, and residential areas will be developed at Tellapur and Mokilla, where LRT, BRT or MRT connectivity from the last metro station to Kokapet will be provided.
“We will shortly go for RFP (request for proposal) for infrastructure development. It will cost the HDMA roughly `150 crore. We are keen to develop Kokapet into a standalone city that we will be proud of,” Kumar added.

The State government is also mulling the development of an integrated township on a ‘walk to work’ concept. As per the new Municipal Act, wherever 100-or-more acres are available under the HMDA and 50-or-more acres are available under a municipality, the government will encourage developers to set up such townships.

The idea behind this is that people should be able to access all they need within the region itself. Some companies seek a workspace for 10,000-20,000 people, Kumar said, adding that the government hopes to offer such townships to these companies. While private players will develop townships, the government will limit itself to incentivising developers. The policy is ready, and it will soon be put out, Kumar explained.

Currently, Gujarat and Maharashtra have such as policy. The governments ensure faster clearances, automatic change of land use and other such things in case of such projects.

Will have a workspace similar to Hyderabad’s

While the entire workspace of Hyderabad spans 110 mn sq ft, the new city of Kokapet will have a 90-mn-sq ft workspace. The govt is mulling the development of an integrated township on a ‘walk to work’ concept, and will implement lessons learnt from the misplaced development of Hitec City