KOCHI: After a three-decade wait, Kochi Corporation and the town planning department have given the final shape to the master plan for Kochi. The master plan, which has been uploaded on the LSG site, proposes that the city should be categorized into four zones designed to cater to various needs.
Zone-I will comprise Fort Kochi and Mattancherry areas, and it has been recommended that the residential use of land and population in these areas should be brought down.
“The building footprint in the Fort Kochi and Mattancherry areas is high. When considering issues like flooding, including tidal floods, storm surges, and potential disasters, the area along the coast of the corporation area is vulnerable with its high population and building density. As they are heritage and tourist zones it is imperative to protect these regions from further degradation environmentally and socially. So, the focus on providing major employment-generating land uses and crowd-pulling development facilities needs to be shifted to the mainland,” the master plan states.
The area along the Metro corridor has been marked as Zone-II, which can be designated for transit-oriented development while the outer city area falling under Zone-III has been identified as the region which could be used for development.
Priority can be given to vertical development and providing more green cover to aid natural functions. Those areas within the city which are under the influence of canals, tides, inundations, wetlands, waterbodies and marshlands have been marked as Zone-IV.
Some experts have aired different views. “Zone-I includes Smart City areas where infrastructure has been given a push. This should be used in a better way. I don’t think making this area less populated is ideal. There should be vertical development in Zone-Iand Zone III,” said May Mathew, former secretary, and senior town planner, GCDA. Mayor M Anilkumar said the proposals will be implemented only after holding talks with all stakeholders
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