Opinion Expanding our towns for urban growth

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission launched in 2005-06 has opened up an avenue for funding which allows for speedier implementation of schemes such as the Town Planning Scheme,or TPS,of Gujarat,which has achieved city expansion with minimal displacement of people and active participation of land-owners in urban planning — while also contributing towards financing of infrastructure investment.

The origins of the TPS can be traced to the Bombay Town Planning Act of 1915,and the system has been used in Maharashtra and Gujarat,and also,sometimes,in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But of late,it has fallen into disuse. We found good examples of the TPS in action in Surat and Ahmedabad backed by the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act (GTPUDA) of 1976,which was last amended in 1999. The system has been well tested in court.

Ahmedabad and Surat have completed more than 100 such schemes each. In Ahmedabad,the average area developed each year is about three per cent of the municipality’s current built-up area. The total area developed under the TPS is about 300 sq km Of this,13 per cent has been used for roads and 10 per cent for parks,community centres,housing for the poor,etc. The Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority has built over 11,000 houses in the last five years for the urban poor using land obtained through the TPS. In Surat,these schemes have covered 137 sq km,of which close to 25 per cent is appropriated for public use. In the last five years alone,Surat constructed 617 km of roads and 10,000 houses for the poor under JNNURM projects in TPS areas. The scheme was also used successfully to plan the redevelopment of Bhuj after its devastation by the earthquake.

Under the Development Plan-TPS system,after the development authority of a town or city has drawn up a strategic decadal development plan for the town or city (identifying the area in which the city is to expand,and laying out the main contours of road and transport infrastructure) the expansion area is divided into a number of smaller areas,typically between one and two sq km each. The TPSes focus on the development of these small areas within a framework of participative planning.

In developing these smaller areas,the original plots are marked on a base map,on which major city-level roads are also marked. Planning then begins for public infrastructure: a subsidiary road network,parks,schools,hospitals,and housing for economically weaker sections,for example. More recently,area is also set aside for sale by the development authority to raise finance for infrastructure. A serious effort is made to keep the total proportion of land allocated for public use at an acceptably low level. As Bimal Patel,an urban planner,and a major intellectual force behind the TPS,puts it: “If a road is to be built through the middle of the area in a TPS,every landowner within the TPS area has to relinquish a part of their land and squeeze up. The road-side plot remains with the original owner although it is now smaller by the same proportion as is every other plot in the TPS.”

The total cost of the TPS includes the cost of infrastructure,compensation to be paid to each land owner,and administrative and legal costs of preparing and implementing the TPS. The betterment charges levied on the land-owners are determined on the assumption that half of the appreciation in the land value of the final plot holders can be appropriated by the development authority for financing the infrastructure. In this manner,the original land owners are converted into owners of urban,better-serviced land which is smaller than their original plots — but much more valuable.

Land owners are kept well informed through newspaper advertisements,public meetings and easily available maps of the proposed scheme. After the draft scheme is finalised,the state government appoints a town planning officer — an urban planner who hears individual complaints from landowners in public meetings,and modifies the draft plan to accommodate their demands. Each landowner gets three hearings,two on the physical proposal and one on financial issues. After approval from the state government,the final town plan is published in the newspapers,and appeals can be made to a board constituted by the state government. This participative method works in redressing most grievances,and use of conventional land acquisition methods is minimised. For example,for building the Sardar Patel ring road around Ahmedabad,only 13 km of the 76 km long and 60 m wide road was acquired using the conventional land acquisition method.

The statutory provisions of the act allow urban local bodies to take possession of TP roads as soon as the draft TPS is approved. Since TPS does not change the revenue status of the land,and any title-related problems of any plot continue to attach to the new plot,another potential factor delaying infrastructure work is kept out of the way. Earlier,infrastructure investment could begin only after the betterment charges came in,and this could take several years. But now thanks to the JNNURM,TPS system is on a fast track.

Planning,participation and transparency have made all the difference. If Surat and Ahmedabad can use TPS to meet the demands of growing cities,should other cities of India be left far behind?

Isher Judge Ahluwalia is the chairperson of ICRIER and chair of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure. Ranesh Nair is a consultant to the committee. Views are personal

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