CDP for greater Berhampur region to be ready in six months

BERHAMPUR: A Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for Greater Berhampur region is expected to be ready in next six months. It was declared by Berhampur Development Authority Chairperson Sarat Ranjan Patnaik at a workshop organised in the city on Saturday to elicit views from corporators and councilors of the local urban bodies under the BDA. The corporatoers of Berhampur Municipal Corporation and councilors of Gopalpur and Chatrapur Notified Area Councils (NAC) attended the workshop. The technical team that attended the workshop was led by chief planner of the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), J.B. Khirsagar. The TCPO, which happens to be the technical advisory body of Central Ministry of Urban Development, is preparing the CDP for greater Berhampur. The master plan is likely to be ready in another six months.

Mr. Khirsagar described the process through which the new master plan is being prepared. The new master plan is Geographical Information System (GIS) based. It depends on both remote sensing data from satellites as well as the ground level data collected by surveys. The Orissa government is bearing the cost of the CDP preparation, which would cost around Rs. 1.08 crores. Mr. Khirsagar said the TCPO was providing the technical collaboration without taking any consultancy fee. The city would get its master plan after four decades as its last master plan was prepared in 1969. The present CDP is being prepared keeping in view the development of greater Berhampur till the year 2031. The area under greater Berhampur will include the urban centres of Berhampur, Gopalpur and Chatrapur and 139 villages between them. The CDP will comprise a total area of 317 sq. km. having a population of around 12 lakhs.

Sources: The Hindu, Orissagrowth, Orissatv