Come up with solutions to meet challenges, town planners told

Amaravati: Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy called upon the town planners to come up with solutions to the emerging challenges with a futuristic outlook on the goals set by the United Nations for sustainable development.

Virtually inaugurating the 69th National Town and Country Planners Conference at Vishakhapatnam on Friday, the Chief Minister expressed confidence that the three-day meet will come up with solutions that are pertinent to the state and country vis-à-vis the 17 sustainable goals for 2030 set by the United Nations.

"The conference, being organised by the Institute of Town Planners of India (ITPT) and attended by town planners, academics, researchers, directors and others from across the country, would deliberate on the emerging challenges in the changing scenario, and I hope the summit will come up with useful recommendations," the Chief Minister said in his inaugural address.

Some of the interesting topics the summit would be impact of Covid on work culture and the requirements besides environment and climate change. The issue of growing greenhouse gases is a matter a serious concern, he said and expressed hope that the meet will discuss on the issue with concern.

The Chief Minister said that he is looking forward to the recommendations on affordable housing for lower income groups and reducing the financial burden on the government in wake of the growing cost of land and high rents in urban areas making land acquisition a difficult task.

Water management is another issue of major concern and it needs a comprehensive planning as cities are growing from multiple directions and there will be need to extend the water facilities to all areas.

He stated that the government is looking forward to developing the coastal region utilising the vast stretch of 974 km coastline in the state, where even Visakhapatnam city is also one of the beneficiaries of an integrated coastal development plan.

The Chief Minister reiterated that the purpose of this summit is to deliberate various issues on sustainable development goals by 2030 as recommended by the UN and looking forward to the solutions that would emerge in the summit for a remarkable change in current situations to lead better. "We will take forward all the suggestions and recommendations that the Conference will give after the deliberations and put them to best use," he said.