Mangaluru, May 19, 2015, DHNS:

MLA J R Lobo has expressed concern that development works should not harm the beauty of the city and outskirts of the Mangalore City Corporation should not be neglected in the process.

Addressing a preparatory meeting to discuss on various projects at the Mangala auditorium of MCC on Tuesday, he said that roads of the city should be developed on priority and funds should be shared to widening, concretisation, footpath, water-supply and UGD. The council should take final decision on the same, he said.

Earlier, consultant Dharmaraj said that premium Floor Area Ratio (FAR) amount should be used only for road widening, however junction development can also be considered as widening.

The amount should not be used for repair, maintaining and land acquisition, and it should be done under TDR. He wanted more flexibility in spending FAR amount.

Former mayor Mahabala Marla claimed that the right of utilising FAR amount should be with MCC. The council should identify roads, the FAR amount collected for small roads can be used to develop the parallel roads first. Otherwise, the traffic problem would become a major headache in days to come.

The MLA opined that prioritisation should be done according to the collection of FAR.
He further suggested that a meeting of the Development Committee of the MCC headed by the Mayor, in the presence of Traffic ACP.

A special meeting of the council would be held on May 28 and the list of roads which are yet to be developed should be ready, he said.

Meanwhile, to clear the problems of building bylaw and zonal registration, he formed a committee headed the mayor and chief whip. The MCC Commissioner, Joint Commissioner, Town Planning Manager and Commissioner of MUDA will be a part of the committee. Members from engineering, architect and builders’ association and Credai will be a part of the committee.

To prepare the list of names of roads, the MLA said that the officials should start the process with the help of local corporator, bill collector, ATPO and junior engineer. The process can be finished within 10 days, he said. About the development Central, Surathkal, Kadri and Kankanady markets, the MLA directed the builders to be ready with their detailed project report during the special council meeting.

Mahabala Marla said that council has no information about the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (Kudcemp) projects under ADB phase II.

The MLA informed about various water supply and drainage projects and directed engineers to add a proposal of a water treatment plant at Marakkada. MCC environmental engineers informed that UGD interlink is pending at 19 places. Kudcemp officials have said that they won’t do the pending work.

The MLA directed the officials to prepare a work plan and he would put pressure on the government to get funds. The work on new UGD lines will be done under ADB II.

Courtesy: Deccan Herald