The Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) has got permission for its proposed two middle-income groups (MIG) layouts in the Vizianagaram district from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). The VMRDA will set up two middle-income groups (MIG) layouts in about 41 acres in two different mandals in the Vizianagaram district. Meanwhile, the VMRDA has also sent proposals to the DTCP to establish two more layouts in 363 acres in the Visakhapatnam district. One layout will come up in approximately 269.3 acres in GS Agraharam and Ramavaram villages, and the other one in Palavalasa (93.8 acres) in the Vizag suburbs. As per the VMRDA authorities, the pricing of the plots in these layouts will be based on the cost included in the land pooling, layout development and formation of infrastructure. The state government plans to set MIG plots in the urban local bodies across the state under ‘Jagananna Smart Towns’. The demand survey held for the MIG plots under this scheme obtained approximately 3.9 lakh applications from the prospective buyers. VMRDA metropolitan commissioner K Venkata Ramana Reddy told the media that they will shortly invite bids for land levelling and other infrastructural works for the two layouts sanctioned by the DTCP in Vizianagaram district. For the offered layouts in the Visakhapatnam district, the layout designs have been sent to the DTCP. The state government wants to render these plots at a cheaper cost than the market rates to the middle-income groups, according to Venkata Ramana Reddy. The VMRDA metropolitan commissioner told the media that they will send a report to the state government based on the actual expense they will incur on land pooling and layout expansion. Then the state-level committee will set the cost to make them affordable to the public, as per Venkata Ramana Reddy. The VMRDA has long been planning to set up new layouts in the suburbs as the urban development authority has land parcels on all four sides of the city. Image Source Also read: VMRDA to process several layout regularisation scheme applications