This document summarizes a presentation about the Lavasa hill city development project in India. It describes the project's progress and plans to include five towns by 2020. However, it notes that the project faced controversies over environmental harm, questionable land acquisition practices, and allegations of political corruption in acquiring loans. Solutions discussed include investigating the corruption claims and examining irregularities, as exposing any corruption could help address other issues, as the basic concept of the Lavasa project does not seem flawed.
1. PRESENTED BY:-
ANAND PATEL (RP14049)
VIJAY LAMBA (RP14057)
AMARDEEP PANDEY (RP14054)
RAHUL DHANIK (RP14068)
National Institute of Construction Management & Research
Pune, India
3. Lavasa is an independent India's first planned hill city.
Urban infrastructure project.
Design.
Permanent population.
Concept : Life in Full.
4. Construction of two out of the five planned towns are
ongoing.
Number of residences have been completed as of 2013.
By 2011 four hotels and a city centre were completed.
It is estimated that Lavasa will not be finished before
2020.
The project confirmed that Lavasa will include four
large towns and one low-cost town.
5. Harm to the environment.
Procurement of land.
Loans acquired through political corruption.
Some other controversies.
6. Lavasa didn’t get clearance under Environment Impact
Assessment Notification, 1994.
State’s environment dept issued permissions without
statutory powers to do so.
Violations of environmental laws, including
haphazard cutting of hills which result in result in
landslides, high erosion, and consequent siltation of
water bodies.
All work unauthorized construction > 1,000
meters(altitude)– against policy
7. Indian Ministry of Environmental & Forest(MoEF) has
declared this project illegal and they cease the project
in November 2010.
Reason: the company had failed to obtain
environmental clearance from the Union ministry.
Later MoEF provided clearance on November 2011 to
Lavasa with some specific conditions.
8. Both government and individual land owners have
taken issue with Lavasa’s land acquisition approach.
INDIVIDUAL LAND OWNER
•Land being acquired by hook or
crook.
•Land purchased at government
rates when market rates are
much higher.
Complaints by Land owners
regarding:
-Loss of land.
-Bouncing of cheques.
-Threats and living in
constant fear.
GOVERNMENT
*Lavasa Corporation purchased
the land from farmers and they
are liable to pay 34 of the
purchased price to the
government but they paid only
2%.
*They bought 98 hectares of
land without license.
9. Sharad Pawar is alleged to have demanded
compensation for allowing Lavasa to be constructed.
Relatives of Pawar had part-ownership of the company
developing the project.
Pawar's daughter and son-in-law had more than 20%
ownership between 2002 and 2004.
10. The water from Varasgaon Dam is diverted to Lavasa,
it will cause a supply shortage to Pune city.
Lavasa plan does not conform to the procedures in the
Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966.
The buildings are almost touching the water body; the
state government had permitted construct at a
distance of 50m from the reservoir which was reduced
to 30m and then 15m.
11. Residential: Laws changed to allow construction on steep
slopes.
Commercial: Laws changed to allow mixed land use—
commercial and residential—in the town centre.
Water: Buildings and roads close to the water body, at 5 to
15 meter distance. Oil and sludge from vehicles and runoff
could affect lake’s water quality.
Hospital: No plans for disposal of bio-medical waste on-
site.
12. First step - to investigate the corruption that seems to
be a part & parcel of Lavasa.
If the corruption is exposed, finding the irregularities
should be easy.
Lavasa doesn’t look like a bad idea.