Stakeholders disagree with projections in draft CDP

Mangalore, February 4: The draft city development plan (CDP) for the Mangalore City Corporation till 2034 prepared by a private agency commissioned by the Government says that there is a need for taking steps to construct affordable houses in the jurisdiction of the civic body.

“As prices rise, even modest accommodation is fast going out of reach of the low income and middle income groups. A few initiatives have been taken up to provide houses to economically weaker sections,'' the draft plan report submitted to the corporation says.

Centre for Symbiosis of Technology, Environment and Management (STEM), Bangalore, has prepared the draft plan. It was discussed at the stakeholders' consultative workshop on Friday.

Of the 60 councillors in the corporation not even a quarter of them attended the workshop. Chairman of the Standing Committee for Town Planning and Improvement Sudhir Shetty K and Chairman of the Standing Committee for Accounts Diwakar were among the absentees.

Mayor Rajani Dugganna made a brief appearance at the inaugural session and left the venue immediately.

In his introductory remarks, VM Hegde, Chief Executive Officer, STEM, said that the projections had been made on the basis of secondary data provided by government agencies.

The draft plan says that the population in the jurisdiction of the corporation is expected to touch 9.5 lakh by 2034 from 4.16 lakh, according to 2001 census.

Though the representatives of STEM presented various statistical projections on the requirement of water, length of sewage lines, roads, traffic management, financial management and the like, a majority of stakeholders did not agree with them.

Commissioner of the corporation K.N. Vijayaprakash said that the projections should have been made on the basis of primary data and not secondary data.

The draft plan had not discussed the human resource required, including professionals, to implement its projections, he added. Nelson Pias, architect, said that the population in the jurisdiction of the civic body would surely cross 9.5 lakh by 2034. The agency had not taken into consideration the growth of population by setting up industries under Mangalore Special Economic Zone Project. The data on traffic and transportation plan was questionable.Mr. Pias said that the report projected the requirement of only one fish market. He sought to know if it was enough for the population in 2034.

Purushotham Bhat, advocate, said that the agency did not mention anything on power production and requirement and consumption aspects. He did not agree with the number of places of worship mentioned in the draft report. Their numbers would be definitely more now, he said. Dharmaraj, engineering consultant, said that the agency should have done a sample survey to collect primary data to know if the secondary data matched with it. The agency should have consulted experts. Its projections were not realistic.

Gopala Gowda, Assistant Executive Engineer of the corporation, said that the report was silent on the availability of source of water to meet the requirement in 2034. Mr. Hegde said that the agency based its report on the secondary data according to the terms of reference given by the Government.