Stakeholders discuss plan to achieve GDPA

To evaluate the Greater Dimapur Planning Area (GDPA) 2041 master plan, a stakeholder’s consultation meeting was held on Friday at Tourist Lodge, Dimapur.
The meeting was convened by Urban Development Department and was attended by government departments, GBs, and representatives of different civil societies among others.
At the meeting, the members discussed on development objectives such as implementation of building regulations, identification of growth centers, improvement of transportation, heritage conservation, and the introduction of urban design guidelines. The need for decentralized development patterns and protection of water bodies was also emphasized.
Speaking to the media on the side line of the meeting, Director of Urban Development, A. Chenithung Lotha, emphasized the importance of taking the opinions of the stakeholders into account before publishing the draft master plan.
Joint Director of Urban Development, Peteyilie Khatsy said the stakeholders for the plan include government departments such as PHED, Power, Land Resources, Tourism, as well as villages and ULBs at the meeting.
Dr. M. Rama Rao, senior manager at RSI Softech, Hyderabad, who was responsible for preparing the master plan, said that the draft was a vision document for the proper use of land resources for the next 25 years.
The GDPA covers three urban local bodies (ULBs) – Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC), Chumoukedima Town Council (CTC) and East Dimapur Town Council (EDTC).
DMC covers 18.13 square kilometers, which was 12.61% of the total GDPA.
It has 23 wards, 96 colonies, and a population of 1,22,834 (As per 2011 Census) and 27,165 households. CTC covers 15.10 square kilometers, which was 10.50% of the total GDPA. CTC has 12 wards, 50 colonies, and a population of 25,885 and 5,129 households and EDTC covers 3.96 square kilometers, which was 2.75% of the total GDPA, with 11 wards.
The GDPA also includes 45 villages within its planning area, covering 106.55 square kilometers, which was 74.12% of the total GDPA.