Hyderabad: The State government has approved an Integrated Township Policy and necessary orders were issued to this effect recently. But what does the policy mean to the people, the construction industry, and other stakeholders in the State?
Well, the concept of integrated township policy is based on the ‘Walk to Work’ idea and it paves way for multiple aspects, especially the decongestion of growth apart from spurring development in new areas. More importantly, it focuses on better quality of life and besides boosting real estate, the integrated township policy will aid in planned and sustainable growth in different areas.
The government is planning to develop satellite townships around the Outer Ring Road, which will aid in spreading the growth in the city and other parts of the State.
Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao had said the integrated township policy was aimed at decongesting Hyderabad by encouraging real estate development beyond the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
The idea is to promote growth and development in new areas and offer more benefits to real estate developers to develop more satellite townships and counter magnets about 5 km outside of the ORR, the Minister said at a recent programme.
The main objective of the policy is to encourage and promote large scale integrated development with private and public initiatives that would result in optimization of land use, leveraging of ORR infrastructure and beyond, promote Transit Oriented Development, achieve economies of scale, increase housing facilities, and better provision of infrastructure facilities and amenities based on the ‘walk to work’ concept.
Strange it may sound but only Gujarat and Maharashtra are the other two states in the country that have integrated township policies. The Telangana government is taking the right steps by coming up with an integrated township policy and it will go a long way in boosting the State’s image for promoting planned and sustainable growth said CREDAI Telangana president G. Ram Reddy.
Integrated townships are all about providing the required infrastructure, including social, health, education, and others in a particular place. These townships will serve as growth centers and make people’s life a lot simple and comfortable. Imagine walking to the office, children walking to schools, hospitals, supermarkets, malls, entertainment facilities in close vicinity. This will cut down travel time, pollution, and fuel a lot of real estate activity to explain Reddy.
There is a lot of lands available along with the ORR and the government can capitalize by promoting integrated townships. Places like Kokapet, Kollur, Narsingi, and even Kompally have good prospects for developing integrated townships, he suggests.
“Now, all the national players will look at Hyderabad and come up with new projects. Integrated Township policy is a good move and needs to be promoted in a big way” says Reddy.
Welcoming the policy, developers want the government to focus on developing road connectivity to the townships, besides ensuring proper transportation options for people.
