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.