The state government has agreed to support the integrated development of townships along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR) with private and public initiatives in order to decongest the city and encourage planned development.

Integrated Township Policy in Telangana

The Telangana Comprehensive Integrated Township Policy Rules 2020 was declared on Tuesday, 3rd November by the MA&UD department after cabinet approval.

The growth of the city is concentrated only in some regions, mainly in eastern and western areas, leading to congestion and overburdened infrastructure. The policy supports the principle of 'walk to work' in the form of townships.

The proposed township project would be an integrated and mixed design with residential, industrial, educational (at least up to class 10), health facilities, highways, internal public transport such as electric vehicles, amenity spaces, layout greenery and public utilities,' said in his orders Arvind Kumar, chief secretary, department of municipal administration.

The government made plans to create self-contained townships also in the new Municipalities Act. The current population density of the core city is about 11,000 people per square km, according to urban planners, and in the next few years, after Gurugram, it will cross 20,000 per sq km. This is what they claim will lead to the city's haphazard growth.

Proposed Township Policy

For the last ten years, township rules and satellite townships have been on the cards. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) suggested promoting satellite townships near the ORR in the 2013 master plan. In 2007, the Tellapur Techno-city Project suggested a township. The developers bought 400 acres of HMDA land. But it was limited to 100 acres due to issues. For different reasons, even the project got stuck.

The purpose of the new policy is to tackle all such problems. Not only ORR but also other municipal corporations such as Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Ramagundam corporations will develop the new townships, said a MA&UD official. CM K Chandrasekhar Rao asked the water board to prepare, along with ORR, a water supply network.

Advantages of Integrated Townships

• Developments become decongested
• Facilitate road congestion and significantly decrease pollution
• Promotes improved quality of life
• Stimulates development in new areas
• Boosts opportunities for real estate by making housing affordable for everyone
• On land use regulations, a few restrictions may be provided
• The developer will be exempted from paying construction fees as infrastructure development takes place within the township.
• In real estate tax payments, there may be rebates
• Land availability at a lower price

Integrated townships are expected to be designed to meet the requirements of 10 lakh population each in the next few years in four directions of the region.

By: Shailaja K