The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) will ditch plans for bulk allotment of individual sites in new layouts in future and focus on vertical growth of the city.
The vertical growth areas will be designated beyond the existing heritage zones and tourist centres. More over, it will also entail increasing the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) – the ratio of the building’s floor area to that of the land on which it is constructed - to enable construction of multi-storeyed structures going beyond 10 or 12 floors.
MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev told The Hindu that the horizontal sprawl of the city can no longer be sustained and people were reluctant to settle beyond a few km outside the city limits while Mysuru has already spread beyond 10 to 12 km radius.
‘’Long-time residents of the city seeking to construct a new house no longer see any merit in going beyond 10 km and are exploring apartments within the city limits’’, said Mr. Rajeev.
In the meantime, the group housing plan proposed by MUDA a few years ago will be the first exercise in continuation of this vision of vertical growth and the plans will be submitted to the State government for approval in due course.
The MUDA has swathes of land at 33 different locations within and close to the city limits and another 15 will be added to take up high-rise apartments under group housing scheme.
“’In the first phase around 5,000 housing units will be built each costing not more than ₹12 lakh to ₹ 15 lakh to make it truly affordable’’, said Mr. Rajeev.
The growing realisation of the unsustainability of horizontal sprawl which was eating into agricultural tracts around Mysuru, was also a factor that triggered MUDA’s plans to opt for vertical growth.
There has been bulk conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes in Mysuru taluk and the recent amendment to the Land Reforms (Amendment) Act 2020 easing the purchase of agricultural lands, will only accelerate the conversion process.
“On a swathe of converted land where 2,000 sites can be created the MUDA can construct apartment blocks to accommodate manifold that number and hence this was the only way forward to cater to site aspirants’’, said the MUDA Chairman.
Mr. Rajeev said he will convene a meeting in the month of November with officials and all stakeholders to discuss the future plans and chalk out a vision for both MUDA and Mysuru.
For people who prefer row housing despite the distance factor, there will be options but the focus will be on vertical growth in future.
The last bulk allotment of individual sites by MUDA was at R.T.Nagar where nearly 1,680 sites were distributed. But the entire process – from land acquisition to development and allotment – which began in 1997 was completed only in 2017 by when the number of site aspirants had grown manifold. Vertical growth is expected to reduce this pendency and cater to more people.