People-friendly land use zones soon

People-friendly, my foot. I wonder if people were even consulted before drawing up this plan. Most residential areas (Koramangala, Indiranagar, Jayanagar) have already turned into hell-holes with a proliferation of commercial establishments. This plan will destroy them completely.


People-friendly land use zones soon
Times of India

Bangalore: Bangalore may soon witness a revolution in zonal regulations with the revised Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) proposing liberal and practical modifications.

Simply put: The techies need not travel for hours on back-breaking stretches to reach their offices located outside Bangalore as the revised CDP has identified some potential areas in the city that can have the agglomeration of both residential and industrial patterns.

The revision promotes a hybrid approach to land use zoning through the recognition of the mixed land use, acknowledges market forces through proper FAR management, encourages redevelopment and urban renewal, restructures the city based on macrozoning and land development approach.

Last year, the BDA decided to revise the CDP by 2005 and initiated a project — Metropolitan Spatial Data Infrastructure for Bangalore — under the Indo-French protocol which encompasses detailing of urban strategies, design of a master plan and detailing of the proposed land use map with projects for the year 2020. The project is being carried out by SCE India Pvt Ltd headed by French consultants.

Sources in the government told The Times of India that the revised CDP has provided for 15 classification of zones of which five are the major ones: transformation zones, hi-tech zones, residential zones, industrial zones and mixed zones. Bangalore has been divided into 47 town planning districts for the CDP revision.

The consultants have completed the reports of 37 town planning districts and the remaining 10 will be completed by October-end.

“Some outdated regulations in the present FAR have resulted in violation of rules to a large extent. The revised CDP puts out a view that the city centre which is the hub of activities should be bustling with life,’’ officials said.

The revised draft CDP will be placed before the BDA board after which it will go to the government, objections will be invited from people and appropriate suggestions will be incorporated in the CDP.

PROPOSED MAJOR ZONES

Transformation zones: Areas which have the capacity to change to suit the needs of the changing scenario. For instance, Jayanagar has been identified as a subcentre as the area profile is such that it can accommodate even the IT and commercial zones along with the residential zones.

Hi-tech zones: Those areas which can be upmarket and self-contained. For example, Electronic City Phase II. Here an IT township is being proposed with a hi-tech corridor from Iblur to Electronic City Phase II at a cost of Rs 370 crore by the BDA.

Residential zones: Purely residential dotted with neighbourhood shops that can function in specific areas.
Industrial zones: New areas have been identified that can be purely industrial.

Mixed zones: Areas where residential zones can co-exist with industries, commercial complexes, IT firms.