Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region is the
metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
covered by the city of
Visakhapatnam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The entire region is spread over the districts of
Visakhapatnam,
Vizianagaram and
Anakapalli
Anakapalli is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Anakapalli district. The municipality was merged with the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. It has the second largest jaggery market of the coun ...
. Under the jurisdiction of
Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority, it covers an area of and has a population over of 60 lakhs.
History
Prior to VUDA, the Town Planning Trust had existed since 1962 that implemented developmental activities in and around Visakhapatnam. The TPT was upgraded and
Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority was constituted in 1978 with its jurisdiction extending over Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and four municipal towns namely Vizianagaram, Bheemunipatnam, Gajuwaka and Anakapalli, comprising an area of 1,721 sq km. Later, the jurisdiction of VUDA had been increased from to area in 2008.
Due to the rapid increase in urbanization the existing VUDA was upgraded to VMRDA by expanding its jurisdiction from to . Spread over four districts including
Srikakulam
Srikakulam is a city and the headquarters of Srikakulam district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. census,. it has a population of 165,735. There are many other places of Buddhist Tourism such as Salihundam, Kalinga Patnam, Dabbaka Vaa ...
,
Vizianagaram,
Visakhapatnam and
East Godavari. But due to the dissent from the local people's representatives of East Godavari, the state government excluded East Godavari from the VMRDA and officially notified the development area as in September, 2018. On 13 February 2019, the Government of Andhra Pradesh constituted
Srikakulam Urban Development Authority
The Srikakulam Urban Development Authority is an urban planning agency in Srikakulam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh ...
. So, the VMRDA loses of Srikakulam district to new urban development body. Then again the development area was restricted to . Later, with the inclusion of
Merakamudidam mandal of Vizianagaram district in VMRDA, the range was increased to .
On 23 February 2021, VMRDA has taken the remaining 13 non-Agency mandals under its jurisdiction, taking its total to 52 mandals. This decision comes in light of the rapid urbanisation towards the western corridors of Visakhapatnam city. As per sources, this inclusion of mandals is expected to reduce pressure on the urban infrastructure of the city, ensuring planned development in the fringe areas. With this new inclusion, the jurisdiction of VMRDA has extended to a total of .
Jurisdiction
Under the jurisdiction of VMRDA, the ''Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region'' (VMR), comprises,
Visakhapatnam city and the districts
Vizianagaram and
Visakhapatnam.
It is spread over an area of and has a population of .
The below table list the urban areas of ''VMR'':
The below table lists the mandals of ''VMR'':
See also
*
List of metropolitan areas in India
References
{{Visakhapatnam
Metropolitan areas of India
Geography of Andhra Pradesh