Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, June 7: In a major initiative to promote Jammu as independent tourist destination, the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) has envisaged a multi-crore project of constructing Jammu Habitat Centre- a recreational spot and commercial hub, at Ware House, near Bikram Chowk in Winter Capital of the State.
The process in this regard has been set into motion with preparing a Site plan after detailed survey of the entire area from Bikram Chowk on northern side upto Army area/Women College on southern side and abound by Bikram Chowk-Satwari road and Tawi river, official sources told the Excelsior.
Besides, a detailed inventory of all Public assets in the identified site, which is around 400 kanals, is being prepared by the JDA for shifting of the facilities of Warehouse and different Departments to other areas, sources added.
The proposed Jammu Habitat Centre will consist of commercial space, banquet halls, museum, auditorium, restaurants, guest rooms and multi-storey parking facility.
On the direction of Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, the Housing and Urban Development Department has moved forward on this multi-crore grand project, which will change tourism scenario of Jammu city.
The project will become a vital commercial hub besides an important recreational spot for the tourists and the pilgrims visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Trikuta Hills in Katra. Further, the upcoming pilot project of developing Tawi river from Bhagwati Nagar bridge upto Gujjar Nagar bridge on the pattern of Sabarmati River Front Development Project, with other tourism related projects in the offing, shall boost up the tourism and socio economic activities in Jammu.
For preparing a comprehensive proposal for construction of the commercial cum cultural complex on the JDA land, the Housing and Urban Development Department recently constituted a committee, headed by Commissioner/Secretary H&UDD and comprising of Commissioner JMC, Vice-Chairman JDA, Chief Town Planner Jammu, Chief Architect J&K and Director Building Centre Jammu.
Moving forward on the project, sources said that the committee authorized Superintending Engineer JDA to get the detailed survey of the entire area indicating physical boundaries of chunks of land belonging to various Departments and organizations viz State Road Transport Corporation, Kala Kendra, Food Corporation of India, besides other establishments in Nehru Market and Ware House.
Further, sources added, the Commissioner/Secretary has asked the Vice-Chairman JDA to get prepared inventory of all Public assets in the Site plan for shifting of the same to other areas as per the proposal of the Revised Master Plan of Jammu.
After the detailed Site Plan, sources said that the Committee is now gearing up for preparing a comprehensive plan and a Detailed Project Report (DPR) while taking technical inputs from similar projects, constructed in the country. “The preliminary works is going on for preparing a Detailed Project Report of the mega project while Commissioner/Secretary H&UDD is personally monitoring the entire exercise in this regard, sources said.
When contacted, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, who holds the portfolio of the Housing and Urban Development Department, confirmed that the preliminary work for preparing the Detailed Project Report was going on and this multi-crore mega project would be completed in a phased manner through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. “Once completed, this will be a big gift of JDA to Jammu people and it is also going to be most prestigious modern project for tourism promotion here,” he said.
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