Naya Raipur

Naya Raipur, officially known as Atal Nagar-Nava Raipur, is a planned city and fully Greenfield city in Indian state of Chhattisgarh. It is planned to replace Raipur as the capital city of Chhattisgarh. The Government of Chhattisgarh, the state’s administrative body is situated here. The city is located between National Highway 53 and National Highway 30, about 17 km south-east of the capital city Raipur. Swami Vivekananda Airport separates Raipur and Nava Raipur. Naya Raipur has land pool of 17000 hectares in which it covers an area of about 8000 hectares that includes 41 villages out of which 27 villages form the core of Naya Raipur

About half of the total acquired land is being used for public facilities; 23% of the land would be reserved for government and educational institutions; and 30% of the land will be used for residential and economical purposes. The city is envisaged to accommodate about 560,000 people by phase III, i.e., within 2031 as per the Master Development Plan prepared by Naya Raipur Development Authority now Nava Raipur Atal Nagar Development Authority. Provisions have been made for its expansion and to upgrade infrastructure in the future.

Planning

A comprehensive exercise was undertaken to find a perfect location for the city. An imaginary circle of 50 km radius was drawn around Raipur and this massive area was divided into four quadrants.

Each quadrant was analysed in the context of regional development, existing development, climatic factors, flora and fauna, water resources, transport network ,etc. and the efforts yielded the present site southeast of Raipur at about 15 km distance, close to Mana Airport. The site selection methodology and site profile are detailed.

Nava Raipur Development Authority

After the formation of the new state of Chhattisgarh in November 2000, the state government decided to create a well planned new city for Raipur. Hence a special area has been notified under section 64 of Nagar Tatha Gramnivesh Adhiniyam 1973.

The authority thus formed is the Capital Area Development Authority (CADA) which is now called the Atal Nagar Vikas Pradhikaran (NRDA). NRDA is the nodal agency undertaking comprehensive development of this ‘greenfield’ city.

Chief executive officers are appointed by government and other officers and staff working under NRDA organisation. Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer P. Joy Oommen is the chairman of the NRDA, while Amit Kataria is its chief executive.

Vision for development

• Naya Raipur would be a ‘green city’ in every sense of the term. Large areas would be brought under tree plantation, arrangements would be made for water conservation and waste water recycling, and non-conventional energy resources would be used to the maximum.
• It would reflect the rich heritage and culture of Chhattisgarh and India in its urban design and architecture. Special efforts would be taken to make it a people friendly and visitor friendly city.
• The city’s design would a promote sense of security and comfort among its citizens, especially women, children and the physically challenged.

Economic base

The main activity base of Naya Raipur would be the government/state capital functions. However, a diversification of economy is desirable, which would be attained through the following activities:

• Software technology park
• Gems, jewellery and other similar industries
• Business offices
• Health, education and research services
• Regional recreational activities
• Nandan Van Zoo & Safari
• International cricket stadium
• 5 star hotels
• 18 hole golf course and golf villas
• Museums
• Art gallery and library
• Garden
• Botanical garden
• Lakes

Planning methodology

While venturing to prepare the development plan for Naya Raipur, basic studies were made in the form of a secondary survey of data on Chandigarh (the first planned capital of a state in independent India) and Raipur, the elder sister and the most important “organic” metropolis in the region.

The space quantum against each activity/work-centre was then ascertained going by the accepted thumb-rule of the concerned industry/trade/activity, to the case of capital complex, and exact figures of government jobs were taken into consideration. The resultant space quantum was then allocated on two-dimension on the structure plan and final quantum, shape, location, was defined by exact boundaries/roads on the plan.

With iterations, the allocated spaces were again translated in terms of number of jobs and the total number of job in the city arrived at. With a population of 5.6 lakhs, the Naya Raipur City will be expected to generate approximately 2.2 lakh jobs, with an assumed workforce participation rate of 40%. The high standards of physical and social infrastructure adopted for the city will be able to cope with the maximum capacity of the city.

Education

Naya Raipur will form the hub of educational institutions in the state of Chhattisgarh. The city will have premier educational institutions shifted from Raipur. A few of them are:

• Hidayatullah National Law University
• National Institute of Technology, Raipur New Building under construction
• International Institute of Information Technology
• Indian Institute of Management Raipur

Sports

Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium is a new cricket field in the city. It seats 65,000 spectators and was opened in 2008. It is the second largest cricket stadium in India and the fourth largest cricket stadium in the world by seating capacity.

The stadium was home ground for two matches for the IPL team Delhi Daredevils during the 2013, 2015 and 2016 Indian Premier League event.

The stadium hosted a half marathon, with the theme “Let us run” on 16 December 2012 to mark Vijay Diwas.