[Assam] Guwahati

[Amitabh Kakoty]

A major share of Guwahati's chaos is due to:

1. Ill-conceived development regulations / byelaws; specifically the norms
for mimimum road width and regulations related to sub-division of plots are
poorly conceived. There is no hierarchical road system in the city - you
have few arterials (e.g. GS, Zoo Rds), then you have 3/4 mt wide lanes in
most areas extended for several kilometres without a higher-order road
(Everyone knows it but plz check Google Maps to understand how severe the
problem is). These lanes do not facilitate sufficient width for installing
basic urban infrastructure. Land in new areas in the city are now being
sub-divided with such lanes - Xoruxojai, Uttor Guwahati, Jalukbari, .... /
For reference: Minimum Road width in Bahrain - 12.5mtrs for newly developed
areas - or else you are not going to get a planning permission / development
permission approved.

People should have understood that with better infrastructure / larger
roads, in an attractive city such as Guwahati (regionally attractive, higher
in demand) land and property values would have been higher at the same time
ascertaining a better quality of life.

2. Poorly designed drainage system (not comprehensive, not intelligent)
disrespecting natural gradiants and existing water bodies. ------- Otherwise
Guwahati could have been a unique city with lakes (a lake/bil, almost in
every corner), wide canals (connecting these lakes - facilitating fishing,
transportation, storm water balance and off course tourism) and existing
rivulets, green hills (with large extended parks) and the scenic
Brahmaputra....!!

3. If we can not afford to build world class urban roads now, if we can not
afford other infrastructures, but with better management, by just protecting
suitable Right of Ways for roads, proper widths for canals and areas under
natural water bodies under an efficient plan, we could have saved this
two-thousand years old city. You dont need large resources for adopting
better planning and urban management procedures for a city.

4. Higher density or intensive activities (say a transport node - station, a
capital complex, or a market) in a city can not be made responsible for all
these chaos; the underlying urban planning and management procedures are to
be blamed - or else as everyone agrees, chaos will only spread out to other
peaceful areas with these activities. We should try learning from city's
abroad how they are efficiently managing high-density developments - e.g.
Hong Kong, Singapore.....

5. At the same time Malaysian cities and towns provide great examples - how
they are ensuring world class (KL) to 'good' infrastructure in their urban
areas of various sizes and classes with efficient management - every small
town specifically in the peninsular Malaysia has basic minimum 'good'
infrastructure (check road widths - say in Alor Setar in google earth)
and clean urban environment - interestingly at the same time cost of living
is lower (check real estate prices) while income and quality of life is
higher (plz visit or browse)!!

Regards
Amitabh
Bahrain

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 7:14 AM, Alpana B. Sarangapani <
absarangapani at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> I agree there, C'da. At least some businesses would have been opened and
> some economic activities would have been there which might have generated
> some employment, along with shifting of the chaos.
>
> On our way to Titabar, on this visit, we saw there is no development at all
> on a long way before and after we reached Chandrapur.
>
>
>
> > From: cmahanta at gmail.com
> > Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:46:03 -0600
> > To: assam at assamnet.org
> > Subject: Re: [Assam] Guwahati
>  >
> > *** The chaos would have been created elsewhere A, namely Chandrapur :-).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 18, 2011, at 9:43 PM, Alpana B. Sarangapani wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I found out this time that some in Assam feel that if the capital was
> shifted to Chandrapur as originally it was planned, Guwahati would not have
> faced this chaotic situation. Would it have been better?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > assam mailing list
> > > assam at assamnet.org
> > > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > assam mailing list
> > assam at assamnet.org
> > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>