Development Plan 2041: Satellite towns proposed for Shimla

To move the urbanisation load from Shimla, a counter magnet town near the airport has been offered in the ‘Development Plan 2041’, to accommodate about one lakh future population. Satellite towns in Ghandal, Naldhera, Fagu and Chamiyana to accommodate 5,000-10,000 have also been offered. The transit-oriented development offer of bypass road and its integration with current and new development — counter magnet town and satellite towns — are additionally on the cards. The Draft Development Plan is proposed for the Shimla planning area, comprising Shimla Municipal Corporation, Kufri Special Area Development Authority, Shoghi, Ghanahatti and additional planning areas. On Tuesday, Urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj rolled out the draft of the Shimla Development Plan here. He said that the development plan was being made after 40 years and was a historical development. It will assist in planned development, besides dealing with different problems. The town would have a geographic information system (GIS) based development plan, the minister said, adding that department officials and experts had conducted detailed deliberation of the key proposals before the finalisation of the draft. The plan additionally talks about the integration of ropeways and rapid transport systems to decrease the current traffic on roads. It additionally has the proposal for multimodal hubs, tunnels, multilevel parking and junction improvement throughout the city. Besides, dedicated freight mobility improvement; heritage walks in the core area, agro-based tourism, ecotourism, forest tourism of walking or running trails and sky bridges have been offered. In the proposed plan, residential land use has been modified from 5.51% out of the total planning area to 12.15%. Out of developed areas, the residential area has been improved from 56.44% to 63.25%. Stating that commercial development is a prime factor to provide robust urban development, the proposed plan for the area under commercial use has been boosted from 0.41% to 0.53%. Image Source Also read: Village Development Plan: Rural Delhi presses for planned developed hubs