MARGAO: With the Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao in place, the government is now toying with the idea of roping in a Spain-based international Urban Design firm, well experienced with city planning, to draft the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for the commercial capital.
While the government is keen to zero in on the Spanish firm to draft the Margao CDP, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) will soon float a separate tender for the appointment of the consultant.
A day after the SGPDA capped the exercise of formulating the Outline Development Plan (ODP), which has received the stamp of approval from the Town Planning Board headed by TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, the CDP is expected to focus on the street design and all the details involved like the services and utilities.
“Haphazard planning and poor coordination among various departments has left our city in a total chaos and the CDP will be the first of its kind master planning exercise which will frame rules and regulations at micro level”, TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai said, adding that special attention will be paid to signages and to all aspects related to the safety and convenience of pedestrians.
“These regulations which specifies details of the streets will have to be then followed by government departments as well as private developers. We expect that details right from streetlighting, storm water drainage, services and utilities, roadside fire hydrants etc along with minute details of what material is to be used for the footpath shall be determined by the CDP”, he added.
To a question, the TCP Minister said that great attention will be paid to skyscape of the city as well as the designing of streetscapes. “Streetscape design impacts street users and nearby residents. Streetscaping recognizes that streets are places where people engage in various activities, including but not limited to motor vehicle travel’, he added.
In the past, the Town and Planning Department had planned to draft a Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) plan for Margao, but the exercise never took off and the plan did not take concrete shape.
A Town Planner told The Goan that this is perhaps the first time that a Comprehensive Development Plan will be drafted by the authorities. “There’s no CDP in place in any of the towns in the state. Margao may be the first town if the government’s plan takes shape”, he said.
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COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
>> Complete road and street pattern and traffic circulation pattern
>> Major road and street improvements
>> Amenities, services and utilities
>> Control of architectural features, elevation and frontage of buildings and structures
>> Complex detailed public transportation lay out
