Road alignment, land use change requests dominate VMRDA master plan objections

Visakhapatnam: A second notification concerning the draft revised master plan under the jurisdiction of Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) in Anakapalli, Vizianagaram, and Visakhapatnam districts was issued recently. In response to the first notification in 2025, the VMRDA received 3,722 objections and suggestions. Of these, 717 were identified as unique submissions, while a substantial proportion related to issues of road alignment and land use change.A total of 396 objections pertained to road alignment, including requests for deletion of proposed new roads, extension of existing roads, reduction in the width of proposed roads, and proposals for additional new roads. Another 209 objections concerned land use modifications, such as the conversion of agricultural land to mixed use or the restoration of proposed commercial zones to agricultural classification. However, VMRDA has resolved that requests for land use changes will not be directly incorporated into the master plan at this stage. Instead, such proposals will be processed through the existing application mechanism upon payment of the prescribed fee. The landowners concerned will be issued formal notices specifying their respective land use classifications.VMRDA chairman Pranav Gopal said 427 objections and suggestions received in response to the first notification into the master plan were accepted and incorporated before issuing the second notification. "A comprehensive review exercise was undertaken for this purpose. Objections to the second notification will be accepted until March 10, and fresh submissions will be processed on a daily basis to expedite the procedure. After the deadline, all objections will be forwarded to the state-level technical committee by March 15 for evaluation. By the end of March, the recommendations and remarks of the committees will be incorporated, following which the final master plan will be submitted to the state govt, which will have 60 days to finalise the plan," he explained.Metropolitan commissioner Tej Bharath said the second notification was issued to educate the public on the changes made to the original plan in response to the objections and suggestions received for the first notification. "If we submit the plan directly to the government without issuing the second notificatoin, they may not be aware of these changes. Several significant revisions have been incorporated into the master plan in recent months. These include incorporation of the alignment of the proposed coastal corridor connecting Visakhapatnam and Bhogapuram airport, proposals under the Visakhapatnam economic region plan, proposal of new roads in previously unserved areas of Vizianagaram rural and Anakapalli regions, etc. The second notification has been issued to ensure transparency in the planning process. VMRDA aims to complete the receipt of objections within a month and proceed towards finalising the master plan," he said.The second notification with March 10 deadline constitutes the final opportunity for the public to submit suggestions and objections to the master plan. "However, resubmission of previously filed objections is unnecessary, as they have already been considered under the first notification. Only fresh representations are expected. The Authority anticipates a limited number of new objections as only 717 unique objections were received during the several months period of the first notification in 2025," added the metropolitan commissioner.