Centre frames infrastructure policy to check challenges of urbanisation

New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS) To address the emerging urbanisation challenges, the government has come out with an infrastructure policy to promote living close to mass public transport corridors like metro, monorail and bus rapid transit, an official statement said on Sunday.

The Urban Development Ministry has formulated a "National Transit Oriented Development Policy" which will be discussed with the states and union territories at a National Workshop on Tuesday, it said.

This policy seeks to promote Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), a type of infrastructure development which enables people to live within walking or cycling distance from transit corridors.

This new urban design and planning in the form of TOD, is being incentivised by the ministry under two more initiatives - Metro Policy and Green Urban Mobility Scheme.

"City densification will be promoted along mass transit corridors through vertical construction by substantially enhancing FARs (Floor Area Ratio) backed by promotion of Non-motorised Transport Infrastructure for walking and cycling to transport stations, development of street networks in the influence zone of transit corridors, multi-modal integration, effective first and last mile connectivity through feeder services to enable people access public transit in 5 to 10 minutes from home and work places," the statement said.

The Ministry said that If these schemes are properly executed, TOD could emerge as a means of financing mass transit project, for which the demand is growing.

The initiative comes in the context of over 300 km of Metro lines being operational in seven cities, another 600 kms of metro line projects under construction in 12 cities and over 500 km projects under consideration.

TOD will be financed by channelising a part of increases in property values resulting from investments in transit corridors through Betterment Levies and Value Capture Financing tools. Increased private sector participation will result in economic development and employment generation.

TOD Policy also aims at inclusive development by ensuring mixed neighbourhood development in the form of a range of housing choices including affordable housing and ensuring spaces for street vendors.

TOD is being taken up Ahmedabad, Delhi (Kakardooma), Naya Raipur, Nagpur and Navi Mumbai and the Ministry would like this to be expanded to other cities as well, the statement said.

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