Urban Structure Plan
The City of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh is designated
as Counter magnet city in the National Capital Region (NCR) plan
- 1989. It is one at the counter magnet cities which are to play
a role in reducting pressure on the growth of the Capital Region
and the City of Delhi. The city of Gwalior with its size, distaning
from Delhi and potential for growth is poised as a major economic
player in the region. (Refer figure 1.1-1 and 1.1-2).
Gwalior has also been declared as priority urban region of Madhya
Pradesh. The city is the largest urban centre in the Gwalior Agra
Region, Which comprises the Districts of Gwalior, Bhind, Morena,
Sheopur, Guna, Datia and Shivpuri. The basic economic activity of
the town in trade and commerce and Gwalior acts as the principal
collection and distribution centre of the region. The city has a
significant sociocultural status and rich architectural heritage.
Gwalior town with its strategic location on the Delhi-Agra-Bombay
route coupled with the presence of the majestic Gwalior fort makes
it an important tourist town of India.
As a counter magnet, the city of Gwalior is expected to play two
major functions :
To stem the migration from less developed area of Madhya Pradesh
to the capital city of Delhi.
To act as regional growth centre and to help attain a balanced pattern
of urbanization in the subregion.
For implementation of the counter magnet project, the Government
of Madhya Pradesh in the year 1992, Constituted a Special Area Development
Authority (SADA). The jurisdiction of SADA covers an area of 30,000
hectares of which 6,500 hectare is Government property; app. 9,000
hectare is privately owned; and over 14,500 hectare is reserve forest.
This SADA area is hereafter referred to a Gwalior West because of
its location of the western side of the City of Gwalior. The Divisional
Commissioner is the Chairman of the Authority, which has a core
staff under a full time Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
DKS Consultants were commissioned in 1994 to prepare a techno feasibility
report for the development of a core area of Gwalior West. The feasibility
report was prepared and presented to the project approval committee.
It was approved by SADA. Subsequently, DKS were awarded the task
of preparing a Development plan for the SADA area.
Existing landuse was notified by SADA in 1997, and in Interim report
was submitted by DKS later that year. The Report identified and
illustrated the various opportunities and potential sectors of growth
and development in Gwalior West. It integrated the results of Sectorial
Demand Analysis for development in Gwalior West with results of
other analyses carried out by the Consultants.
Several key issues, which may have a major impact on the proposals,
emerged during the formulation of development proposals for the
planning area. These included integration of the new township with
the parent city Gwalior, consolidation of land through exchange,
realignment of by pass road, density of development and others.
Some of these represented a departure from current planning practice
and others were related to policy and government initiative. All
these will have a substantial and long-term impact.
There have been several meetings and meetings and discussions, and
DKS have been directed to prepare a Development plan. Accordingly
DKS have prepared a Draft Development plan. Accordingly DKS have
prepared a Draft Development Plan for review, comments and approval.
This plan is based on some assumptions related to several issues
including the alignment of National highway and consolidation of
government owned lands. These issues were highlighted in the Interim
Report and policy direction was sought.
1.2 Development Context : Contrasts and Opportunities
The estimated population of Gwalior is over 10,00,000
persons (1998). The rate of growth during the last decade has been
less than 4% per annum, which is one of the lowest in the urban
centres of Madhya Pradesh. The land and housing market is local
with marginal price increases in the last few years. The housing
supply by the public agencies is less than 2000 units per year with
a small additional by private sector. The number of housing permits
has been showing a declining trend over the last few years. Demand
for housing in Gwalior has grown at negligible rates.
The total registered demand for housing with all the government
agencies is no more than for 13090 units. The number of housing
permits has also been declining over the last few years.
The experience of the two industrial estates at Malanpur and Banmore
shows sluggish activity, with the exception of a few large units
like J.K. Tyres, CEAT and Gwalior rayon, Many of the other units
have closed down or are having serious problems. The market conditions
in trade and commerce have also been showing stagnation of decline.
This is clearly reflected in the sales tax receipt and the demand
for commercial property. A review of the levels of commercial activity,
industrialization, urbanisation and investment in Gwalior over the
last decade, shows that the economy has shown a modest rate of growth
which has translated into relatively low levels of demand for goods,
services and real estate.
However, Gwalior has tremendous potential for development. It is
highly accessible by road, rail and air. It has been identified
as a Counter Magnet City (CMC) to Delhi. It plays an important role
as a regional centre for Northern India and is emerging as a priority
urban region of Madhya Pradesh.
It has outstanding historic assets, and water bodies which can become
Major tourist attractions. The policy for promoting tourism in Madhya
Pradesh and the proposed introduction of a special train “Palace
on Wheels” with Gwalior on the itinerary, would offer a great
opportunity for it to emerge as a major tourist destination.
Gwalior is known for its commodity markets, and is an important
divisional centre. It has a well pronounced industrial base, and
large amounts of investments related to industrial infrastructure
development are concentrated in the growth centres of Malanpur,
Ghirongi and Banmore which are an integral part of the Gwalior-Morena
Urban agglomeration.
The level of basic urban services is not inadequate and investment
are being made to exchange the range and quality of these services.
The City region is rich in water supply resources with sufficient
capacity to support an additional population of more than 1 million
persons. This will require linkages between water bodies, and a
well planned distribution system.
Large, consolidated areas of land, not well suited for agriculture,
and under government ownership, are available for development of
a new township which together with the existing City of Gwalior
offer a unique opportunity to create a self sustaining Counter magnet
City to the NCR.
A sustainable pattern of development in response to the natural
systems existing on the site could be evolved through allocation
of uses and an intensity of development that relate to the carrying
capacity of the land. The Development of a comprehensive new township
offers a wide range of opportunities for innovation in the planning
and design of basic services and in the use of cost-effective and
eco-friendly technologies. More user-responsive planning methods
such as the use of less rigid Urban Structure plans, with complementary
regulations and standards, can be implemented to expedite the development
process. This would result in minimizing the need for large scale
land acquisition, and facilitate high levels of private sector investment
in the development of infrastructure, housing, commercial development,
health-care facilities and education institutions.
Above all, the development process can start from the grass root
levels, and be based on active public participation in accordance
with the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments which vest the
planning and development function in the Panchayats and Nager Palikas.
Population allocations by NCR for Gwalior West are rather optimistic
about the growth of population in Gwalior, This can be relished
only if concerted efforts are made to diversify economic base of
the city, improve the existing institutional arrangements and launch
and aggressive promotional programs.
1.3 Development Strategy/Approach
Development of land infrastructure at present had mostly been through
public sector organizations. Mostly it is supply driven assuming
that whatever is supplied will be sold, irrespective of price, quality
and user preferences. Furthermore loans are obtained to finance
the land development and construction activities. Frequent time
and cost overruns increase the loan and interest burden dramatically
on the project agencies. Lack of effective demand for land, housing
commercial property may lead to high vacancy rate to properties.
This has resulted in serious financial problems for many development
authorities (i.e. Meerut, Ghaziabad etc.)
In the context of Gwalior West these traditional approaches are
particularly inapplicable. In the absence of a growing demand, any
large-scale development in Gwalior West could lead to exodus from
Gwalior City leading to economic and physical deterioration of the
existing areas.
Under these circumstances of limited growth a supply driven project
in Gwalior is not prudent, and SADA should carefully review such
a large project which could have heavy burdens of interests for
extensive borrowings.
A Cautious demand driven approach is proposed to be adopted. Development
of A “Core Area’ in Gwalior West should act as a catalyst
to encourage further development in the area.
It is therefore crucial to further diversify the economic base of
Gwalior by attracting new sectors, such as tourism, recreation,
private education and agro-based industries. A large demand for
these facilities does in fact exist in and around the Delhi Metropolitan
Area but needs to be attracted to Gwalior. Simultaneously, the existing
areas of economy must by expanded to generate higher levels of demand.
In order to establish the likely demand for the above-mentioned
activities on the new township, the consultants carried out a Market
Potential Study for these sectors.
To initiate the development of Gwalior West, suitable institutional
arrangements to facilitate availability of land to SADA need to
be adopted by the state. This interactive process would be mutually
supportive in a cycle of higher levels of growth, and development.
The concept for NCR counter magnet at Gwalior has been evolved on
the basis of emerging but sound planning paradigms, which are more
sensitive to the issues of ecology, private/public sector participation
and a highly participatory and transparent planning process.
The proposed plan covers the entire SADA Area of 30,000 hact. However
the detailed urban structure plan has been prepared for an area
of app. 8000 Ha which is located predominantly north of the Tighra
road and excludes major reserved forest areas towards the south.
The proposals are not to be seen as a rigid policy instrument, but
as a flexible Urban Structure Plan which will delineate important
elements such as major roads, public open space, forest land, infrastructure
nodes, and broad land uses.
