Following Maharashtra and Gujarat, Tamil Nadu has initiated ‘land pooling area development’ to convert unstructured areas into structured layouts. In this process, lands that are scattered here and there are converted into a contiguous parcel, making it easier to provide essential infrastructure like roads.

Officials claim the scheme could be a win-win situation for both the State government and various stakeholders, including individual landowners and real estate developers. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) initiated the land pooling area development scheme, with the first one recently at Madambakkam and the second now at Thirumazhisai.

At Madambakkam, the land pooling was around 700 acres while at Thirumazhisai it is over 900 acres. While Madambakkam is a major residential area in Tambaram Corporation, Thirumazhisai, a western suburb, 28 km from Chennai in Thiruvallur district, is a mix of residential and industrial areas.

The scheme’s objective is to develop private and public lands of irregular shapes that lack public access, infrastructure facilities and public facilities, reconstitute them and redistribute the land into regular shaped plots. The idea is also to provide proper road access to all plots and back facilities like parks, playgrounds, open space and public amenities.

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The CMDA will return reconstituted plots to the extent of not less than 60 per cent of the land to the plot owners with appreciated land value, said sources.

Anshal Mishra, Member Secretary, CMDA, told businessline that the scheme is a win-win for both the government and various stakeholders. It’s a kind of layout development with the government doing the entire layout, undertaking infrastructure spending for creating road networks and other public utilities in a larger area of more than 500 acres to trigger organised development in the region, he said.

For creating public infrastructure, CMDA will utilise not more than 40 per cent of the overall land pooling area, including private and public land, and give back the reconstituted and readjusted 60 per cent minimum of land with proper road access back to landowners. The value of the developed land increases because we build the infrastructure and give access to each land parcel like roads, parks and play spaces, electricity, water supply, sewerage and stormwater drains.

CMDA will do the infrastructure spending through the revenue generated from the 5 to 6 per cent of land retained for the purpose. This scheme is likely to benefit the land owners directly besides helping in more organised urban development, he said.

States like Maharashtra and Gujarat have tried this model. Tamil Nadu has amended the Act and laid down the rules for the scheme, he said.

There is some apprehension that the government will take away a lot of land. There could be some developers who have already invested and accumulated or consolidated land there and may feel that the government process will take time. All these issues will be sorted out, he said.

“Our target is that in 18 months we will finish the entire scheme, and in this scheme, we are already midway,” he said.

An industry source said the scheme will be for systematic town planning. For larger townships or industrial parks. In this case, it is being done by CMDA itself like redevelopment only 50 per cent approval is needed.

It is a useful model as capex will be reduced and planning can be better integrated. In this case, CMDA because when the land is contiguous planning, it will be better.

Landowners will get around 60 per cent of their land back. But after the planned development it’ll be worth 3X. If not developed by CMDA, there is a chance of unplanned developments with narrow roads, the source said.