Govt outlines national policy framework
The Union urban development ministry has formulated a national policy framework for transit oriented development (TOD), which promotes living close to mass urban transit corridors like the Metros, monorail and bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors. The Centre is also holding a workshop on February 28 to brief the the states and Union Territories (UTs) on the 'National Transit Oriented Development Policy’. This new urban design and planning in the form of TOD, is being incentivised by the ministry under two more initiatives viz., Metro policy and green urban mobility scheme which also will be discussed with states and UTs for taking them on board, according to a government release. TOD has been mandatory under the new Metro policy, while it has been made an essential reform under the green urban mobility scheme and is given priority for receiving central assistance. The Centre notified the TOD policy in early 2015, however, there was no clarity on the process for various sanctions, management of open spaces, parking space, water requirement, etc. States and UTs are required to incorporate TOD in the master plans and development plans of cities besides identifying ‘influence zones’ from transit corridors for tapping revenue streams. Although all states are drafting their own TOD policy, a central TOD policy will help the states to develop an in-depth understanding of the symptoms and causes of the challenges currently faced by Indian cities. Development or redevelopment in a TOD zone will be incentivised by providing significantly higher floor area ratio (FAR), which will enable vertical construction that is required to address shortage of land availability.
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