Coimbatore IT boom and growth soon a reality?

As part of its ongoing endeavour to decongest Coimbatore City and to plan its future growth, the administration is in the final stages of drafting a Master Plan for Coimbatore City, for implementation by 2007. The previous master plan was drafted in 1994. The plan should have been reviewed once in five years. Though the survey was completed two years ago, the exercise for a draft master plan got underway only recently.

On directions from the District Collector, Neeraj Mittal, the Joint Director of Local Planning Authority, S.A. Balasubramanian, met with various associations to elicit their suggestions which will be incorporated in the Master Plan. The officials along with the Corporation Commissioner, P. Muthuveeran, inspected sites for the two proposed link roads - connecting Avanashi Road with Tiruchi Road and Mettuppalayam Road - to decongest the existing city roads. The plan included proposals for outer-ring roads and inner-ring roads (80 feet and 100 feet) to filter the out-bound traffic and to prevent the City roads from getting choked.

It also included outer ring roads from Kalapatti to Saravanampatti and another from Thudialur via Somayampalayam, Vadavalli and Veerakeralam. A consultancy firm from Chennai conducted a traffic survey for identifying the pockets that required bridges and flyovers.

The plan includes a proposal for a truck terminal near Karumathampatti besides bus terminals at a few suburbs where buses are now being parked along the roadside.

Subways have been proposed at Gandhipuram connecting the Central Bus Stand and Town Bus stand, besides one on Avanashi Road - between PSG Tech and Krishnammal College - and one on Oppanakkara Street. Funds may not be a constraint since town and country planning can fund road projects in addition to the resources from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme for other infrastructure projects. Under the Master Plan 24 per cent of the land is to be classified for industrial purpose (enhanced following industry feedback), 33.5 per cent for residential purpose and 0.9 per cent for commercial purpose.

Courtesy: The Hindu