An authority shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to undertake and carry out urban renewal plans and urban renewal projects, including the authority to acquire and dispose of property, to make payments to persons and businesses displaced by the acquisition and disposal of any property, to issue bonds and other obligations, to borrow and accept grants from the federal government or other source, and to exercise the other powers which Chapter 2 of this title confers on an authority with respect to redevelopment projects. In connection with the planning and undertaking of any urban renewal plan or urban renewal project, the authority, the municipality, and all public and private officers, agencies, and bodies shall have all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities which they have with respect to a redevelopment plan or redevelopment project, in the same manner as though all of the provisions of Chapter 2 of this title applicable to a redevelopment plan or redevelopment project, were applicable to an urban renewal plan or urban renewal project; provided, that for such purpose the word "redevelopment," as used in Chapter 2 of this title, shall mean "urban renewal," and the word "slum" and the word "blighted," as used in Chapter 2 of this title, shall mean "blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating"; and provided further, that this section shall not change the corporate name of the authority or amend any section of Chapter 2 of this title. In addition to the surveys and plans which an authority is otherwise authorized to make, an authority is hereby specifically authorized to make plans for carrying out a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements and plans for the enforcement of laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and improvements, and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and improvements. The authority is authorized to develop, test, and report methods and techniques and carry out demonstrations and other activities for the prevention and the elimination of slums and urban blight. This section shall in no way preclude any municipality or housing authority from acquiring planning funds from any agency of the federal government for the purpose of investigating and planning any urban renewal project to be submitted to the electors of the city or town or housing authority affected under this chapter, and the acquisition of said planning funds shall not require a vote of the duly qualified electors of the city or town or housing authority affected under this chapter.