Ahmedabad Discussions

[sunilboston]

Not sure if we can prioritize. Rush hour traffic is a fact of life everywhere this is something we have to deal with as we make progress but we need to make progress. Let there be buildings and employment and opportunities then we’ll figure out how to build metro transit like Delhi and underground freeways like Boston.

[Nick11]

Work on Dholera Special Investment Region to start within a year

AHMEDABAD: Work on Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat will start within a year, a senior official associated with the project said. The central government has approved Rs 3,000 crore to create basic infrastructure for giving a fillip to the project.

The greenfield SIR is coming up over 903 square kilometres, 90 km south of Ahmedabad within the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar districts, near the Gulf of Cambay. It is planned on the lines of the Punggol city of Singapore and will be a self sustaining city comprising industrial parks, manufacturing areas, banking and financial institutions, townships, educational centres, entertainment zones, multi-modal transport and logistics hub. Planners expect that the proposed city will inhabit close to two million people by 2040 and employ 0.8 million. The entire project will see an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore. The actual construction will take place over 540 square km. "Infrastructure facilities like drainage, road, sewage system, internal roads and flood management will be created initially to take care of the project.

We are very cautious of not having another real estate project. Planning for Punggol project took about 8-9 years. Here, we have crossed the concept stage and prepared the master plan as well as development plan," Amitabh Kant, CEO and MD of DMIC Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC) told media persons on the sidelines of a seminar 'Special Investment Regions, Industrial Parks and Logistics Park - Taking Industrial Infrastructure To The Next Level,' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries and Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB). The Dholera SIR is being developed by GIDB. DMICDC is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created to execute DMIC project. About 40% of DMIC passes through Gujarat. The comprehensive development plan for the SIR project was submitted by UK-based Halcrow Group in December 2010. The detailed development plan for the project has been recently approved by the government. It will soon be notified.

The digital plan is being prepared by Cisco Limited. Conceived as a transportation led sustainable city, it will have high speed connectivity. Commuters will be able to reach Dholera from Ahmedabad in about 30 minutes. The multi-modal transport system will have international air connectivity, regional goods corridor, public transport corridor, internal transport, Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT). Japanese companies are likely to invest in the SIR. "Gujarat is a good investment destination, with a business friendly attitude.

More Japanese companies will be coming to Gujarat. We are coming up with smart eco city project at Dahej and Sanand. Hitachi and Itochu have formed a consortium for world's largest desalination plant at Dahej," said Juntaro Shimizu, deputy director general of Japan External Trade Organisation ( JETRO).

[Nick11]

Scottish firms eye Gujarat as lucrative investment destination

AHMEDABAD: A slew of Scottish companies will be making a beeline for Gujarat to tap the investment potential and forge business partnerships with prospective firms even as setting up a permanent trade office at Ahmedabad is emerging a strong possibility.

"Tonight we are meeting 120 representatives from different sectors, including Torrent group, L&T, Ecollibrium, Pandit Dindayal Petroleum University to check what opportunities Gujarat is offering," said Country Manager, Scottish Development International (SDI) Mark Dolan.


"For two days we will be having such meetings to check what are the opportunities for Scottish companies and what are the strengths of companies in Gujarat. In September this year a delegation of 20 companies will be visiting Gujarat, when substantial investment and partnerships will take shape," he said.

SDI is a government organisation which helps overseas businesses tap into Scotland's key strengths in innovation, knowledge, high level skills and technology.

"SDI has a strong focus on opportunities for partnership and trade across high growth industries including Energy, Financial services, Gaming and Animation, Electronic technologies, life sciences, Food and Drink and Education," said SDI Head (North & East India) Rooma Kumar Bussi.

If SDI found substantial opportunity in Gujarat they will soon open a permanent trade office at Ahmedabad, she said. "Till that time we will pursue our trade and business relations from Mumbai," Dolan interjected.

Scotland is seriously considering to offer technology know-how to oil and gas, solar energy sector here. "With more than 2000 companies in Scotland active in supply chain, covering industry

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Originally Posted by sunilboston

Not sure if we can prioritize. Rush hour traffic is a fact of life everywhere this is something we have to deal with as we make progress but we need to make progress. Let there be buildings and employment and opportunities then we’ll figure out how to build metro transit like Delhi and underground freeways like Boston.

We cannot afford that mistake. Public transport should precede the highrises, or at least go hand in hand. Even now when Ashram Road has only 10-12 storeyed buildings, this is the condition, what will happen when all the 30 ad 40 and 50 floor towers come in.

Ahmedabad, unlike most other Indian metros, has this golden chance to create a commercial district in the dead centre of the city (along the riverfront). With proper planning and execution, within 10 years, the area can achieve wonders...

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Originally Posted by Nick11

Work on Dholera Special Investment Region to start within a year

I hope they provide regular updates whenever work starts...anyway good news

[Nick11]

Originally Posted by gandhi.rushabh1992

I hope they provide regular updates whenever work starts...anyway good news

ya let see hope for the best..

[afako]

Originally Posted by gandhi.rushabh1992

We cannot afford that mistake. Public transport should precede the highrises, or at least go hand in hand. Even now when Ashram Road has only 10-12 storeyed buildings, this is the condition, what will happen when all the 30 ad 40 and 50 floor towers come in.

Ahmedabad, unlike most other Indian metros, has this golden chance to create a commercial district in the dead centre of the city (along the riverfront). With proper planning and execution, within 10 years, the area can achieve wonders...

BKC or Worli kind off?

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Yeah, I hope so...

[sunilboston]

pardon me but what's BKC?

[vnkotak]

Originally Posted by sunilboston

pardon me but what's BKC?

That's Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai...
In simple terms, it is Mumbai's emerging (or should I say Emerged) Financial district

[TheOptimist]

Illegal buildings a threat to Ahmedabad airport

While Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport aims to compete with international and national counterparts on the infrastructure front, illegal construction on the periphery are road blocks on its way to be a state-of-the-art facility. Many of the constructions have been stopped while others have simply gone unnoticed. They are potential threats for an unwarranted accident.

As per sources in the airport, 60 houses near airport’s boundary wall have been identified as built without permission. It is claimed that 50% of them have been either removed or their construction has been stopped.

Small factories and residential structures are very close to the airport’s boundary wall. Anyone can access the runway using them. Even multi-storeyed buildings in not-so-far proximity have airport authorities looking over their shoulders.

“We regularly check for constructions in the vicinity and have stopped many that may have come up,” said RK Singh, director of SVPI airport. “Sixty houses were identified as being constructed without No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the airport.” he added. Regular surveys and drives have been conducted with help of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, he added.

An official with AMC’s estate department, requesting anonymity, said that some illegal constructions have been identified and removed. There still are few old houses standing on the side-line which do not have NOC from airport authorities. “They will soon be removed,” said the official.

According to standards set by bureau of civil aviation security, any structure in 20km radius of the airport needs to have an NOC from airport authorities. However, majority of the constructions in Sardarnagar (G-ward), Ambawadi (Sardarnagar), Hansol and Bungalow Area (Kubernagar) are standing without the compulsory document.

URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report...rt_1727435-all

[TheOptimist]

SG Road is Ahmedabad’s new central business district

With the growth of a city, the trading hub known as central business district (CBD) keeps changing. Same is the case with Ahmedabad. Although Manekchawk, Ashram Road and CG Road have not completely lost their charm and are still part and parcel of trading activities, SG Road has emerged as the new central business district of Ahmedabad, believe developers and real estate consultants.

Manekchawk had been the first central business district of the city with availability of almost every product, be it precious metals like gold and silver, cloths, electrical and electronic appliances or crockery and food joints in radius of 1.5 kilometer. In addition, commercial complexes on Relief Road provided much needed office space.

However, with time, areas on the other side of Sabarmati started developing fast and Ashram Road with its eight kilometer-long dedicated commercial area came into existence. “Ashram Road is perhaps the only road having exclusive commercial activities, particularly office space, in such a long stretch,” said Rushabh Patel, president of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (Gihed).

Ashram Road remained favourite for office space, but soon CG Road took over as the main centre for trading activities with mixed development including office space, retail and residential spaces.

Following dominance of CG Road, SG Road is all set to become the new central business district of Ahmedabad. Leading real estate players and real estate consultants term the stretch as the new CBD of Ahmedabad.

Real estate consultants such as Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman and Wakefield have termed Vastrapur area as the trading hub of Ahmedabad in their reports primarily because of retail activities taking place due to the presence of AlhphaOne Mall and Himalaya Mall.

On the other hand, Prahladnagar dominates in terms of office space and Satellite in terms of retail brands and presence of local retailers, said Vijay Shah, a city-based developer.

However, central business district does not mean only a single road or a particular stretch but it covers surrounding area in radius of one to one and a half kilometer from a particular road. “In this sense, SG Road is new CBD of the city as it has presence of major corporate houses with prime office spaces, hotels, retail malls and auto majors along with the judiciary,” said Jaxay Shah, vice president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai).The developers and real estate consultants believe that SG Road still has a huge potential to grow provided the government takes initiative to provide higher FSI on western side of the road.

URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report...ct_1727410-all

[TheOptimist]

Now this is called Innovative thinking -

Ahmedabad civic body will now earn from sewerage plant

While commuters may complain about the bad odour emitting from the sewerage treatment plant at Pirana, the gas, however, leaves Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials smiling these days. No, it doesn’t have any remote connection to laughing gas, but the smiles come from the civic body’s ambitious plans to earn revenue from the gas that emanate from the Pirana plant. AMC will soon set up a processing unit to capture, process and sell the gas. For this, it has already floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) wherein it has invited companies/firms to work on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with it.

At present, after gathering drainage water from the entire city, the sewerage plant emits a total of 12,000 cubic mtr of methane gas every day. This, on the flip side, poses a danger for the city’s environment. Speaking to DNA, deputy municipal commissioner for health, IK Patel said: “We have floated EOIs for our plans to encash from the gas which will also reduce environmental pollution besides giving a boost to production of natural energy. Though the project is on a primary level, we have discussed on two different proposals, out of which, the proposal of setting up the unit on PPP mode is likely to be finalised.” The earlier proposal required AMC to set up its own processing plant, which will require huge investment and hence the second proposal of PPP model is likely to be approved.

If set up on PPP mode, the civic body will be providing the land to the finalized agency and thus won’t have to invest any amount. An official of STP department said how AMC will be earning revenue from the gas without spending any amount. “The firm will bottle the 12,000 cubic mtr of methane gas and sell it. In return, it will pay AMC for every cubic mtr of gas. If the plans come true, AMC will earn Rs3.5 crore annually.

AMC will allot the firm 10,000 sq mtr of land and will give the firm 18 months for the firm to set up infrastructure on it before it starts the project.

URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report...nt_1727416-all

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

That is really innovative. I have to pass through that way many times and the stench is really irritating...

[sunilboston]

Originally Posted by TheOptimist

The developers and real estate consultants believe that SG Road still has a huge potential to grow provided the government takes initiative to provide higher FSI on western side of the road.

That will bring dramatic changes.

[TheOptimist]

Yeah it's always good to build up rather than building out, not just for the sack of aesthetic purpose but also for the maximum utilization of the land available. current FSI is too low

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Yes, although the middle portion of the SG Road is pretty much saturated, the west side of the road in the northern parts (near Highcourt, Gota, SGVP) and the southern parts (Prahladnagar, Makarba, Sarkhej) are still almost barren... so hoping to see some good highrise projects on those stretches

[CivilEngineer079]

But I think so government will not allowed super tall buildings because this will affect the development of GIFT. May be new permissible height will not exceed 70m.

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

70m is ok, but even 122m will be cool for now. I think 30 storeyed towers are just right for Amdavad at present. In future they can allow taller ones...

[Nick11]

great news.. ..