A climate-risk insurance mechanism and a green fee on urban development projects to fund disaster mitigation and emergency response systems in the state, developing Thrissur-Cochin as FinTech hub and Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam as the knowledge corridor, are some of the key recommendations made by the Kerala urban policy commission (KUPC) in its report submitted to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday. KUPC, which is the first state level urban commission in India, submitted its final recommendations containing evidence-based reports from 10 policy pillars. Kerala is now the only Indian state to have an urban policy.
With the rate of urbanisation in Kerala higher than the national average, KUPC was constituted in December 2023 to frame an urban policy. KUPC estimates that over 80% people of Kerala will be urban by 2050. The Kerala Urban Policy will provide a framework and a prototype for other States in India and at the same time, also a model for countries in the global South, a statement by the state government said.
Kerala’s local self-government minister MB Rajesh told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the cabinet will decide on implementing the reforms recommended by the commission with the state already accepting two of the commission’s recommendations submitted in December 2024 as part of their interim report, during a press conference held to mark the event. Six directly elected Metropolitan Planning Committees (MPCs) will be formed around the municipal corp.
