APIIC seeks 70,000 acres for industrial use in HMDA region

The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) wants 70,000 acres to be notified for industrial use in the extended area of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which had recently published the draft master plan.

“We have already identified 25,000 acres of land for this purpose and are in the process of identifying more such suitable lands to be notified by the HMDA,” BR Meena, vice chairman and managing director of APIIC, said here.

About 6,000 acres of land is currently in use under various existing industrial estates developed by the APIIC in and around Hyderabad. An additional 5,018 square km of area around the city has been brought under the HMDA limits by the government.

The total area under HMDA now extends to 7,228 sqkm, second largest under any urban development authority in the country after Bangalore city. A draft master plan for the extended areas was recently prepared by the urban body taking into consideration the developmental needs of the city till 2031.

With industry being the economic driver, any failure to earmark sufficient land for industrial purpose in the upcoming urban areas would hamper the development of the city itself, said Meena at a workshop organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) on the draft master plan.

He also said the APIIC was willing to shift the existing industrial estates into the extended areas of HMDA as they are now surrounded by residential areas and often been criticised for pollution problems. Identification of separate areas for locating highly polluting, polluting and non-polluting industries needs to be worked out based on various parameters, according to him.

The APIIC is also planning to focus on optimal utilisation of land allotted to industries as it is a limited resource. The scope for the development of all the existing industries located in the city including pharma, IT, defence components and aerospace industry needs to be extended, he said.

Hyd population may reach 20 million

Though the city planners projected a population of 18.4 million in Hyderabad by 2031 the figure could cross 20 million as the HMDA took the 2001 census figures as the basis for preparing the master plan for the extended areas of its authority, according to Rajeshwar Tiwari metropolitan commissioner of HMDA.

He said the new master plan was based on modern day concepts of city development and each aspect of developmental needs were taken care of in its preparation.

The HMDA has extended the time for receiving suggestions on the draft master plan by another two months to October 22, 2011.