Dec. 23: The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will soon convene a meeting of stakeholders to discuss its new masterplan.

Officials said the meeting would be attended by representatives of various departments and associations involved with development of the city.

The meeting, which was supposed to be held last month, will now be held in January next year. A Delhi-based firm, Consulting Engineering Services (India) Private Ltd, has already been selected for preparation of a new master plan for Guwahati which will use satellite imageries and lay stress on reducing congestion and giving priority to environmental issues.

The new masterplan will be for a period of 20 years from 2001 to 2021. The first masterplan was prepared by the town and country planning department for the city in 1965 which was further modified and a final master plan and zoning regulations were accepted by the government in 1986.

The company is at present working on traffic surveys.

?Public participation is required in the preparation of a masterplan and interaction between departments and associations concerned with development of the city are required,? a GMDA official said.

He said the suggestions should be concrete so that it helps in the preparation of the masterplan. ?A strong enforcement machinery would be needed for implementation of the masterplan,? he added.

Satellite imageries and the geographical information system will be used in the preparation of the masterplan.

A fund of Rs 86.15 lakh has been released for the project. The satellite imageries would be taken by the National Remote Sensing Agency, he said.