Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta today said that Metropolitan Region Development Authorities (MRDAs) and Mass Rapid Transit Corporations (MRTCs) are aimed to ensure faster, futuristic, coordinated development of capital cities Srinagar and Jammu.
Addressing a press conference, Gupta said the Metropolitan areas of Jammu and Srinagar as well as theirpopulation, have grown rapidly over the past few decades.
He said the State Government being conscious of thechallenges in planned development of the Capital Regions of the State, hasenacted “The Jammu and Kashmir Metropolitan Region Development AuthoritiesAct, 2018 in December, 2018. He said subsequently government created twoumbrella Authorities under the Act, namely, “Jammu Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority” and “Srinagar Metropolitan Region DevelopmentAuthority” to provide an integrative framework for the purpose of planneddevelopment of these regions.
Spelling out objectives, Gupta said these MetropolitanRegion Development Authorities are expected to serve the purposes ofcoordination, besides supervising the proper, orderly and rapid development ofthe areas in these regions and executing plans, projects and schemes for suchdevelopment and also raise resources for mega projects.
He said the Authorities, will prepare an”Infrastructure Development Plan” which will be the guide for annualinvestments in creating infrastructure. “In the next few years, the thrustof the annual plan will be to reduce the deficit on infrastructure includingroads, water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage, public transportationincluding, light rails, e-buses and other amenities,” he said.
He said besidesinfrastructure, these authorities, through a consultative exercise with thePolice and the Municipal Corporations and Deputy Commissioners will formulate aComprehensive Mobility Management Plan, for managing mobility in the region.
“These new authorities will also prepare a SustainableManagement Plan for sustainable management of the urban environment, such as,increasing the area under green cover, water conservation, wastewatertreatment, water recycling, rainwater harvesting, energy conservation, adoptionof renewable sources of energy, provision of open spaces and city parks,”he said.
The State Administrative Council, on 3rd July, 2019, hasapproved the areas to be included in the Srinagar Metropolitan Region and JammuMetropolitan Region. He said these areas for these Metropolitan Region DevelopmentAuthorities have been selected on the principles of regional planning anddevelopment.
Gupta said as per the approval, Srinagar Metropolitan Regionwill cover the areas of districts of Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Bandipora,Baramulla, Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian covering an approximate areaof 2494.65 sq. kms.
He said the Jammu Metropolitan Region will cover the areasof districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, and Udhampur covering an area of2216.58 sq. kms.
He said Million sq ft IT parks will also be developed inthese Srinagar and Jammu townships.
Gupta said two MRTCs for both the capital cities of theState, were incorporated in February this year. Dr E. Sreedharan, has beenappointed as the Principal Advisor to these Corporations.
Gupta said these Corporations are taking steps to addressthe issue of urban mobility in the State in a holistic manner by providingsafe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable access for thegrowing number of city residents to jobs, education, recreation. He said underthe plan, government envisages quality focused multi-modal public transportsystems that are well integrated, providing seamless travel across modes, landuse transport integration, introducing intelligent transport systems fortraffic management.
Comprehensive Mobility Plans (CMPs) for the two Capitalcities earlier prepared by Rail India Technical and Economic Service) — AGovernment of India Enterprise, are being updated.
As a part of the recommendations of CMP, Gupta said theMRTCs have undertaken the implementation of the Light Rail Transit Systems forthe two Capital Cities. The SAC in its meeting held on 7th June this year,approved the Elevated Corridor option for the two Light Rail Transit Systems tobe operationalized. M/S RITES is finalizing the DPRs for the two Light RailTransit Systems.
“It is proposed to have Light Rail System, the first inIndia, which will have low footprint, low noise, greater comfort, aestheticappeal and will blend with the surrounding landscape. The estimated cost of thefirst phase of the project is about Rs 8500 crores, to be funded through debt,State’s equity and Central assistance,” he said.
In the first phase in Srinagar, two corridors will be laidfrom HMT junction to Indra Nagar and Osmanabad to Hazuribagh.
“In phase two, twocorridors will be laid from Indra Nagar to Pampore Bus Stand and Hazuribagh toairport,” said Gupta.
He said that in phase one in Jammu, two corridors fromBantalab to Greater Kailash and Udheywala to Exhibition Ground will bedeveloped in Jammu. In the second phase, corridors will be built from Greaterkailash to Bari Brahamana Railway Station and Exhibition Ground to SatwariChowk to Airport.
Gupta said as per the mandate, two MRTCs have alsoundertaken preliminary steps for operationalizing city buses, within thejurisdiction of the MRDAs, to set new standards and benchmarks in publictransport. These will be app based, air-conditioned, smart e-buses withautomatic fare collection systems.