Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday inaugurated the three-day, 64th National Conference of ‘Town and Country Planner Congress’ in the city.
About 500 renowned town planners are participating the first-ever Congress being held in Chhattisgarh.
Experts on Town Planning will discuss and debate in the three-day meet on various aspects of urban development.
Housing and Environment Minister Rajesh Munat , Raipur Development Authority Chairman Sanjay Srivastava, former Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary P Joy Oommen and Principal Secretary of Housing and Environment Department Aman Kumar Singh were also present. Chief Minister Raman Singh released a souvenir on the occasion.
The Chief Minister while presiding over the 64th Congress said that population explosion is taking place all over the country in urban pockets. It is difficult to develop old towns and cities.
He said the 64th National Conference is being attended by top experts in Town Planning. The decisions taken at this historic meet will be taken into account in future Town Planning.
Singh added that Naya Raipur and Kamal Vihar scheme are examples of ideal town planning. The State Government has planned the township keeping in mind the demands of the next 50 years.
The Chief Minister said Naya Raipur is the extension of the outskirts of Raipur and it is not away from the capital. The heart beats of Raipur will be heard at Naya Raipur. Top priority had been given to environment protection and a lot of safaris have been developed.
Singh gave a brief description of the journey of Chhattisgarh to the gathering. The State tops the list of per capita consumption of electricity in the country.The per capita consumption of power is 1600 units. The per capita income had risen from `16,000 to `70,000 in the State. Only 2 per cent of the population of the country resides in Chhattisgarh.
The State will touch greater heights of glory in the days ahead. I.T.P.I. national president D. S. Mesram gave a welcome address and Chhatisgarh Chapter Chairperson of I.T.P.I. Jaheer Ali gave a vote of thanks to the meeting.
Notably, the Naya Raipur city had been divided into six zones for which zoning plans are being prepared under Naya Raipur land Use Plan-2031.
The NRDA Planning Area consists of three layers mainly- Planning layer-I consisting of Naya Raipur city including the green belt area in 9522 hectares, the Planning layer-II consists of Peripheral Rural Zone in an area of 13,028 hectares and Planning layer-III consists of the Airport Zone spread in 1192.56 hectares.
Notably, the Naya Raipur Mass Transport ltd (NRMTl) is in the process of developing a total of three BRTS corridors covering a total of 40 kms with exclusive ‘Right of Way’ with the possibility of mixed route extension.
NRMTl established to act as a Special Purpose Vehicle to carry out the objectives of building, constructing and developing public transport system has proposed to develop the BRTS with private sector participation, officials stated.
Naya Raipur is also among five other cities in the country chosen as ‘Demonstration Cities’ for the Centre’s ambitious Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP).
The final five cities participating as ‘Demonstration Cities’ under Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) are - Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Mysore (Karnataka), Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad (Maharashtra).
Detailed project profiles were prepared by all cities with the assistance of the SUTP Consultants and then endorsed by the SUTP Steering Committee to be included to SUTP as ‘City Demonstration Projects’, officials stated.