Odisha’s first-ever town planning scheme in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), for the first time in Odisha, is all set to implement the state’s first-ever Town Planning Scheme (TPS), through land pooling – a viable alternative to land acquisition – to bring well planned and sustainable urban development in the Bhubaneswar Development Plan Area.

With this scheme, BDA will now adopt the land pooling method instead of the traditional land acquisition for infrastructure development and urban growth in Bhubaneswar and its outskirts.

This method is fairer to the land owner who gives only a portion of his or her land and whatever he retains is worth much more than his original holding due to many facilities like wider approach road, sewerage, water, markets, schools, college made available its nearby. 

The value of the land one retains increases way beyond that of his original holding and he also gets access to substantially better infrastructure. 

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “I am happy that Bhubaneswar Development Authority, in partnership with the land owners, has initiated Odisha’s first ever Town planning scheme. This is a fair, transparent and practical way of expanding the cities in a planned manner. This will herald a new era of planned development in the State.”

“I hope that we implement this scheme in a time bound manner and create a model for the rest of our cities to emulate. Cities are the growth engines of our economy. We have to plan our cities in a sustainable manner and enable an organic growth while ensuring safety nets for the vulnerable sections. Community partnership and citizen involvement are central to city development. My government gives high priority to such partnership models with active involvement of citizens. We should become a role model in urban development,” he added.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena handed over the Record of Rights (RoR) to eleven land owners or beneficiaries of Sahajpur village.

The Minister said, “With implementation of Town Planning Schemes, people of Bhubaneswar can get a planned city and the land owners can get their due. Therefore, we all should take responsibility and contribute to make Bhubaneswar a well-planned and world class city.”

In the first phase, 358 numbers of Record of Rights (RoR) will be distributed to the land owners of Sahajpur village.

This scheme will bring a landmark change in curbing unplanned growth in the city and it shall mark the beginning of planned development beneficial for the landowners as well the city managers.

The scheme will greatly help in boosting housing, infrastructure and accessibility for beneficiaries including land owners besides accelerating the dynamics of urban development sector in the Capital City and its outskirts. Besides, the TP Scheme offers a great opportunity in terms of in increasing economic activities and standard of living of citizens.

The BDA has contacted land owners on an individual basis with the assistance of Khurda district administration to raise awareness about the scheme. All plot owners will get physical infrastructure like road, drain, water supply and sewerage facility while electricity supply and housing for economically weaker sections are a significant inclusion in the scheme.

“Despite Bhubaeswar being a planned city, it has been losing its planning characteristics and significance due to un-planned and haphazard developments in and outskirts of the city. Hence, by implementing the Town Planning Scheme and Local Area Plan, the city will get more planned development and avoids unplanned development characterised by mixed land use. We can secure urban land for public services and ensure a more equitable distribution to make Bhubaneswar a well-planned, modern and more equal city. We will finish all the Town Planning Schemes in a time-bound manner,” said Prem Chandra Chaudhary, BDA Vice-Chairman.

Land pooling has been used internationally for urban development in Europe, Australia, Tokyo, South Korea, Seoul. In India, states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have used this instrument as a viable alternative to land acquisition. 

The concept involves amassing small rural land parcels into a large parcel, provide it with infrastructure and return approximately 60 per cent of the redeveloped land to the owners after the development is complete and appropriating the costs of infrastructure and public spaces.

Of the 40 per cent that remains with the authority, a substantial portion is reserved for setting up infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, schools, parks, provide electricity, water, sewerage and such like.

The Town Planning Scheme in Bhubaneswar is a win-win for both – landowners and the authority. Since contiguous parcels are required by the government authority, the landowner usually gets a percentage of his holding back in rectangular shape nearby his or her original holding.

One may also get additional Floor Space Index (FSI), due to which the value of the returned land will be a multiple of the worth of his original holding, even though the plot size has shrunk.

As per the Comprehensive Development Plan -2030, there is a provision of a Ring Road of 64.90 km within BDPA area. It has been proposed to take up 45 Town Planning Schemes in 58-part Revenue Villages along 200 metre on both sides of the ring road.

The BDA has already prepared the plan of action to implement the first Town Planning Scheme (TP Scheme No.- 01/2015) covering parts of Mouzas of Sahajpur, Naragoda, Sijuput and Paikarapur over an area of 746.70 acres – a first of its kind project across the state.

Under the first Town Planning Scheme (TP Scheme No.- 01/2015), the BDA will take over 40 per cent of the area of land owners as part of the Town Planning Scheme covering 746.70 acres from four Mouzas such as Sahajpur, Naragoda, Sijupur and Paikarapur. In lieu of this, the Development Authority didn’t give any compensation but will ensure infrastructure development on the remaining 60 per cent area.

Once implemented, the city will be able to obtain land for public purposes such as low-income housing, open spaces, roads, utilities, and social amenities, avoiding much of the haphazard, unserviced expansion that take place in and around Bhubaneswar despite it is being one of the planned cities in the country.

Besides, the TPS will also help in increasing street density in the city, improve accessibility, reduce average trip lengths, and reduce road congestion; enabled negotiated and non-coercive land appropriation by the planning authority for public purposes; and accommodated informal settlements in the planning process.

After getting the state government’s nod on the final proposal, the Revenue and Disaster Management has initiated the record correction of final plots in favour of land owners.

The record correction for other villages i.e Naragoda, Sijuput and Paikarapur under Preliminary TP Scheme No.- 1 are under process which will be completed soon. After record updation work, possession will be handed over to the landowners. Subsequently, infrastructure development work such as Roads, Water Supply, Sewerage, Storm Water Drainage, Street Light etc. shall be carried out in the scheme by the Government.