Kerala State Land Use Board gives Smart City consultants maps of 50 wards

Thiruvananthapuram: The consultants working on the Smart City proposal have finally been provided with Thiruvananthapuram’s maps, one of the basic tools an urban designer needs when planning for a city. Kerala State Land Use Board has provided the map of 50 wards in Thiruvananthapuram, and has assured that it will provide the map of the other 50 wards soon. It is learnt that the Board had to expedite its process of preparing an accurate map of Thiruvananthapuram, a project which was supposed to end in March. Earlier the Board had provided a map, but it was not detailed.

The Board, according to officials working closely with the project, has been cooperative, but not other government departments. “When we approached the Town Planning Department, we were asked to google the map,” says an official. Pressed for time, the smart city team started using a map they found on a government site, and converted it into editable form using AutoCAD. “However, there would be errors. Details are very important while planning for a city. Like how an ortho needs a patient’s X-Rays for devising treatment plans, an urban planner needs a map,” says an official.

They would need built use maps, land use maps and terrain maps to decide on which proposal would best benefit a city. Everything from the direction of flow of a stream to whether there is enough parking facility in a commercial area can be read from the map. An example of an error that crept in, as the planners do not have a proper map – Kamaleshwaram ward was not part of the Bypass-Heritage Canal Corridor, which is one of the shortlisted seven areas. When its councillor V Giri asked a member of the smart city team, he was told that if it was part of the Corridor, it certainly would be included.