Lucknow, 28 April: The concentration of population and economic activities in just two districts in central UP, Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar, has been a driving force behind the state government’s move to develop a State Capital Region, similar to the National Capital Region (NCR) in Delhi.
According to officials, with 12.50% of the state’s population living in Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar districts according to the 2011 census, these two have become “magnet cities” attracting investments and job seekers, while neighbouring districts with larger areas and lower population concentrations remain underdeveloped.
“As a result, it has been observed that the polarisation of economic activities in these two cities is resulting in an imbalanced urban growth of Uttar Pradesh’s central region. Furthermore, when it comes to attracting investments, the Lucknow-Kanpur corridor might serve as a counter-magnet to the National Capital Region of Delhi. As a result, we have decided to proceed with the development of the State Capital Region (SCR), with the projected addition of several smaller neighbouring towns,” stated a senior official from the Town and Urban Planning Department.
This “imbalance” may be seen in the fact that the state capital Lucknow, which is located across 2,528 square kilometres, has almost 46 lakh inhabitants according to the 2011 census, whereas Kanpur Nagar, which is spread over 3155 square kilometres, has roughly the same number of people. UP’s State Capital Region should try to decentralise growth.
According to authorities, because the population count is based on the 2011 census, these two districts must now house at least 1.5 crore people. In comparison, surrounding districts like as Hardoi have more than double the size of 5,986 square kilometres and a population of almost 40 lakh. Sitapur has a population of 44.83 lakh people scattered throughout 5,742 square km.
As a result, the projected State Capital Region (SCR) will encompass eight districts, including Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar, and will span 34,000 square kilometres, with a combined population of three crore. Hardoi, Sitapur, Unnao, Barabanki, Raebareli, and Kanpur Dehat are the other six districts included in the planned SCR.
The UP government intends to issue a worldwide tender for consultation in order to carry out the plan of planned urbanisation of the SCR with equally dispersed economic activity and population concentration until 2047.
“Our focus is on developing harmonised policies for land use control, infrastructure development, and the identification of pre-urban areas to avoid future haphazard development. As a result, the consultant will be appointed, whose responsibilities will include “demand assessment, identification of issues, projected requirements, development strategy, and preparation of draught proposal on GIS-based map of the region with sector-wise data analysis,” according to another official involved in the plan’s implementation.
“The consultant will be expected to research relevant regional planning legislation and the institutional frameworks of both the state and central governments, including the NCR region. “A base map of the proposed area will be required, which will include forest cover, water bodies, revenue roads, existing urbanised areas, industrial corridors, and transport networks, as well as environmentally sensitive zones such as wetlands, wildlife habitats, sanctuaries, water sheds, and so on,” the official said. According to the official, the blueprint would also contain educational, medical, and health infrastructure projects, locations of archaeological, historical, cultural, religious, and tourism interest in the region, and so on. Seven firms responded to the Request for Expressions of Interest launched last month.
“However, only two businesses met the pre-qualification criteria: SMEC with Surbana Juron and LEA Associate South Asia Pvt Ltd… We wanted to examine how interested these businesses were, and it is evident that many overseas corporations want to join but are unable to because they do not meet the needed criteria. We now intend to issue an RFP (Request for Proposal) within the next two weeks and hope to receive bids from at least 18 companies,” said a senior official.
