Plan futuristically

[BryanLoona]

The real estate boom in urban centers bodes ill for the State. Like the concentration of wealth, the concentration of houses in cities is anathema to equitable human progress. Some areas recently figured as a victim of urban-centric development. It has become a dump for the city’s solid waste. It is just one of the many villages where dirt, disease and death stalk, owing to mindless, unscientific urbanization. The three primary factors to be addressed are water supply, sewage, and parking area. Simultaneously, the city water supply and the central sewage systems should be augmented and streamlined. The floor space index should be so framed as to enable open space for playgrounds, a convenient meeting place for the residents and access to public transport. The rules and regulations should contain provisions to safeguard the environment and in a city like Kochi where the undulating terrain is one of its charms, to conserve the topography.

The extent of land is fixed but the demand is growing exponentially owing to real needs and speculative investment. However, high-density development, including high-rise apartments, is good urban land economics. Consumers will be benefited if the builder is scrupulous. Also, the cost of extending utilities and services to high-density population is lower than that for low-density development. On the downside, there are physical and socio-economic dangers waiting to happen owing to thoughtless and corrupt practices in the proliferation of high-rises. But the present trend shows an alarming rate in increase in Villa in Tripunithura leading to pressure on available resources and utility networks. For instance, the water supply network and the sewage system in Kochi city were designed for maybe half the existing users, resulting in scarcity of potable water in many places, clogging of sewers and overflow of sewage onto roads, in open spaces, low-level areas and drains. Overloading and eventual breakdown of infrastructure, water supply, sanitation and circulation are lurking dangers in haphazard development.

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