Assam's first satellite town to come up in Jagiroad

GUWAHATI: The deserted campus of the locked Nagaon paper mill of the Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) in Jagiroad on the eastern fringe of Guwahati may soon become the centre of the state's first satellite township, to be designed by experts from Singapore.
The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has appointed Singapore-based M/S Surbana Jurong Infrastructures Private Limited as the consultancy firm for drawing the masterplan and developing the satellite township, barely 55 km from the city.Sources in the housing and urban affairs department told TOI that the bigger plan is to develop around 10 sq km area in Jagiroad, including the defunct paper mill area. The state government in March had formally taken over the assets of HPC Limited's sick paper mill unit at Jagiroad in Morigaon district.
Surbana Jurong was entrusted with the task of preparing the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Concept Plan, the 40-year-plan to transform Mumbai into a world-class city. It is credited with preparing the masterplan for over 30 countries. However, Jagiroad could be a challenge because the satellite township has to be developed without disturbing the green landscape of the area surrounded by tribal villages. The Telangana government had roped in the firm for preparing the roadmap for Genome Valley 2.0, an upgraded version of life sciences and biotechnology industrial cluster near Hyderabad. The Singapore-based firm was appointed the master planner for the Pune Metropolitan Region as well.
"Considering the growing population of Guwahati and the pressure that is being exerted from all sides, the state government has decided to develop a new satellite township near Guwahati," stated a government release on Tuesday night.
Guwahati has already crossed an estimated population of 12 lakh. The housing and urban affairs department has entrusted the responsibility of exploring the feasibility of the proposed satellite township to the GMDA. A government spokesperson said the GMDA has appointed Surbana Jurong by floating a tender. "The firm has already made a presentation with preliminary suggestions before chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and urban affairs department minister Ashok Singhal. The feasibility study is on," he added.
In a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi with the chief ministers of various states in December 2021, special focus was laid on developing satellite townships.