22.12.14

AP capital plan gets going

Andhra Pradesh municipal administration and urban development minister P Narayana on Saturday introduced the much awaited Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) Bill-2014 in the assembly . The bill, meant to create the CRDA with the authority to prepare a perspective plan for 100 years, a concept master plan for 20 years and a detailed master plan for 10 year for the new capital near Guntur and Vijayawada, will be taken up for debate on Monday .
Since Hyderabad will cease to be the joint capital after ten years as per sub section (1) of section 5 of the Andhra Pradesh Re-organization Act-2014, the bill said the CRDA was being established to ensure the comprehensive development of the capital area and for the location of the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
The CRDA is to be the supreme authority as far as controlling every activity down from the development of the concept to the administration of the capital region in the future. As per the 91-page bill, the functions of the CRDA include preparation and implementation of developmental schemes namely land pooling scheme, town planning scheme and special areas development scheme. The principal objective of the CRDA is to ensure planning, coordination, execution, financing, funding, and for promoting and securing the planned development of the capital region.
The bill reserved 10 per cent of the total area of the land pooling scheme for parks, play grounds, gardens and open spaces. Thirty per cent of the area goes to roads and utility services while five per cent has been earmarked for social amenities such as schools, dispensaries and other community facilities.
About five per cent of the area is expected to be allotted for providing affordable housing for the poor.The authority will later specify the share that goes to the land owners.
Similarly, a share of land in lieu of the cost of development of infrastructure goes to the government which may be used for the development of capital area or residential or commercial, public or semipublic or any other purpose approved by the authority.
The CRDA is also authorized to declare the “Capital Area” for the state of Andhra Pradesh and undertake the construction of the new capital and work towards improving the quality of life of citizens residing in the capital area. The bill provides for the creation of a capital region development fund with a seed capital of Rs.1,000 crore for the purpose of administering the Act. The bill also authorizes the CRDA to create a revolving fund with Rs.250 crore for the development of amenities and infrastructure facilities in the capital region.
The bill gives absolute power to the CRDA to acquire, sell, transfer, or grant license or in any way alienate to use or occupy the belonging to the authority for the purpose of development or redevelopment of the land. To look after the plans and proposals, projects and policies related to transportation in the capital under the provisions of the Act, a unified transport authority will be created. A competent authority for land pooling (CALP) is to be also created soon to notify the process of land pooling.
The bill also authorizes the state government to constitute the CRDA with chief minster as chairman.
The minister for municipal administration and urban development under whose jurisdiction the subject falls and the finance minister are the members from the cabinet. From the officials, the chief secretary, principal secretaries of MAUD, finance, TR&B and energy are the members while the CRDA commissioner will be the member convener. The committee will have four experts national or international, who possess knowledge in urban governance. The bill also has room for the induction of any other officer or expert whom the government thinks necessary as special invitee. The bill also provides for the creation of an executive committee for the authority headed by secretary MA&UD.

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