Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project

[sakrishna]

Hi friends, I hope this project deserves a special thread.

What's your opinion?

If you feel yes, pitch in with latest pics and latest news on the project.

[viedumonde]

I think its a good idea, looking at the scale and quality of the project.
We first put all the information that we have

[viedumonde]

INTRODUCTION

Ahmedabad, seventh largest populous city of India and Commercial Capital of Gujarat State has unique identity recognize by River Sabarmati and Gandhi Ashram established on its western Bank (Famous World over by Name Satyagrah Ashram). Sultan Ahmad Shah established the city in 1411. The City is spared over area of 190.84 Sq. Km. The River Sabarmati flows from north to south in the center of the city and splits the city in almost two equal parts. The city encompasses Population of about 4.5 million. Ahmedabad experiences hot and arid climate with scanty Rainfall. River Sabarmati is backbone of the development of Urban Sprawl of Ahmedabad.





At present the riverfront lies neglected and characterized by unimaginative and unplanned development. It’s potential to provide city level social infrastructure and recreation facilities lie untapped. Though it is a major source of water for the city and despite the building of a major barrage to retain water, except for a few months during the monsoon the river is dry. Sewage contaminated storm water out-falls and the dumping of industrial waste pose a major health and environmental hazard. Though the riverbanks and bed provide a place to stay and source of livelihood for many poor citizens, the riverbank slums are disastrously flood prone and lack basic infrastructure services. The slums located along the riverbed also pose a major impediment to efficient management of monsoon floods in the river.

It has long been acknowledged that appropriate development of the riverfront can turn the river into a major asset, which can improve the quality of environment and life in Ahmedabad and improve the efficiency of its infrastructure. In May 1997, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation established the Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL) under Section 149 (3) of the Companies Act 1956. The SRFDCL was provided with seed capital of Rs. one crore and charged with the responsibility of developing the Sabarmati Riverfront. In August 1997, the SRFDCL appointed Environmental Planning Collaborative (EPC) a city based not for profit urban planning and urban development management consulting firm to prepare a comprehensive proposal for the development of the Sabarmati Riverfront.

[viedumonde]

EARLIER PROPOSALS

Proposal for Integrated Planning and Development of the Sabarmati Riverfront by Mr. Bernard Kohn (1961).
Mr. Bernard Kohn, a French architect residing in Ahmedabad during the early 60’s, visualized the development of the Sabarmati Riverfront with a mix of commercial, recreational and residential developments along both the banks of the river from Gandhi Bridge to Sardar Bridge. The proposal called for reclamation of about 30 ha of land, of which a part was to be sold or leased for commercial development. The proposal showed that the entire development could be self-financing.


Technical Studies Commissioned by the Government of Gujarat.
Technical Feasibility Study by CWPRS, Khadakvasla (1966)
Hydraulic studies using physical models were conducted to simulate water flows in the river. The CWPRS study concluded that the Kohn Proposal was technically feasible.
Contour Survey
The Sabarmati Barrage Division around the same time as the CWPRS Study carried out a detailed contour survey of the river.


The River Front Development Group Proposal - RFDG (1976).
This proposal was prepared by a group of local professional firms: Ahmedabad Study Action Group; Design Associates, Architects; M/s Hasmukh C. Patel; Architects, M/s K. B. Mehta, Builders and Engineers; Vakil-Mehta-Sheth, Consulting Engineers and Virat Thakore, Urban Designer. It was conceptually similar to the Kohn Proposal but suggested an incremental approach to reduce the need for initial capital outlay.


National River Conservation Plan -NRCP (1992).
In 1992, Sabarmati River was included in the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). The main thrust of the Sabarmati River Cleaning Project (SRCP) under NRCP Project is to stop sewage from entering the river through the storm water drainage system. More specifically it proposes: interception and diversion works; the construction of trunk sewers and pumping stations in the periphery of the city; the desilting of storm water drains; the up-gradation of existing sewage treatment plants and; the provision of sanitation infrastructure in river bank slums.


Sabarmati River Front Development - Feasibility Report, CEPT (1997).
The CEPT Proposal envisages the riverfront from Subhash Bridge to Vasna Barrage as a set of publicly accessible open spaces and recreational areas connected by walkways and promenades. It envisages the reclamation of 30 ha proposed by the Kohn Proposal and in addition to that the reclamation of a strip of 20 meters along the west bank and 10 meters along the east bank. The proposal presumes the completion of the ongoing NRCP project to tackle the problem of sewage entering the river. The proposal suggests the formation of detailed urban design guidelines for each zone. It suggests that the entire riverfront development can be self-financing.

[sakrishna]

Thanks for the support bro. It's the first of its kind in India. Hope other cities in our country also follow suite.

This sucess story should be emulated by other Indian cities.

Thanks to Modi for the efforts in developing Gujarat.

[India101]

From the Ahmedabad thread all the way from 2006 till today -

Originally Posted by Jai

Finding three very interesting articles about this city in quick succession prompted me to post a new thread -- on what could be the first Indian city to really strive for a proper, planned, skyscraper-filled CBD!

Firstly, this article:
Riverfront a dream for local realtors?
[ Sunday, May 28, 2006 09:43:18 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

AHMEDABAD: There's some bad news for local developers who have been salivating at the thought of sinking their teeth into the juiciest bit of realty in town - the Sabarmati riverfront.

The river's banks may not really become a playground for the smaller fish. Biggies like Unitech, DLF, Rahejas and Emaar may actually traipse away with the mega-deals that will be on offer later this year.

The government is planning to invite global bids for large chunks of land in the 32 hectares earmarked for commercial and residential development.

The government's view is that it does not make sense in splitting up the land into small plots. Instead, narrow strips of land stretching up to 1 km each could be considered the minimum unit.

As many as 20 hectares are to be sold for commercial projects and the remaining 12 hectares are allocated for residential projects.

What will make the project particularly viable for global and national players is the high FSI (floor space index) that is being planned to allow the building of skyscrapers, especially in the central business district (CBD) proposed between the Nehru Bridge and the Gandhi Bridge.

Confirming this, SRFDCL chairman Anil Mukim said, "The overriding concern is that the project matches global standards." The idea is that it will be easy to handle the infrastructural needs - like parking - if each developer is given large tracts of land. Besides, it will help maintain the desired skyline and synergy in design."

The invitation for global bids could be out as early as October 2006, the deadline for completion of walkways along the 11.5 km-long stretch between Subhash Bridge and Vasna Barrage.

With the urban design plan is on course, to be ready by August-September 2006, the General Development and Control Regulations are expected to be finalised by October 2006 after which global bids would be invited.

This latest twister comes after local builders were even given a sneak preview at a private screening by the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited earlier.

The only Ahmedabad-based realty player who looks capable of generating such resources is Adani group chairman Gautam S Adani, who has just bagged one of the biggest realty deals in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla complex.

"A proper job which would meet international standards is possible only if large chunks of land are offered," he said. Players like K Raheja Corp also can't help drooling. "We will certainly pitch in when bids are invited," said a K Raheja Corp spokesperson.

Originally Posted by IndiansUnite

Another render -

[TOI]

Originally Posted by IndiansUnite

This is the illustration behind Narendra Modi-


THE RIVER SUTRA: Visitors walk past a plan of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project

[TOI]

Originally Posted by GJ10

Sabarmati Riverfront Redevelopment Pics

Courtesy of Tapsboy @ Flickr

Nehru Bridge



General Site Pics











Also – from the same photographer, check out the FIRST GLIMPSE of the GIFT project site in the GIFT thread also here in the Central/West Section!

Originally Posted by GJ10

Sabarmati Project Realty Development Next Year

So Apr 09 at the latest, but if the AMC really think they can get it done by Dec 08, thats all the better!

Wonder how much a Riverfront Apartment would go for....

Originally Posted by bhopalus

Sabarmati Riverfront Development Construction

Originally Posted by rajugentleman80

I found these pics while browsing the net..
From Santosh... land being reclaimed.
image hosted on flickr


From ArchSanjay.. during kite festival
image hosted on flickr


From Krupal... Work in progress even at night..
image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

Originally Posted by GJ10

Is riverfront project inclusive?

Ok... personal view, which others will def disagree with, but I honestly feel that Ahmedabad is the only major city in India where a project like this would even get underway. Yet even then, idiots are claiming that by removing slums and giving a facelift to the whole riverfront, Ahmedabad will somehow be losing something!

Back in the days when Shakespeare was putting on plays at the Globe, the South Bank of the Thames was teeming with slums, prostitution, potent blindness-causing alcohol and all manner of crime and filth.

It was only the Great Fire that gave London a chance to completely rebuild, redesign and emerge as the most efficient and therefore important city in the world for many hundreds of years.

Sometimes these socialist-minded people need to realise that the decisions that India needs to make right now aren't all that different to what the West had to do albeit a few hundred years ago! They should really stop having a go at the people who are actually trying to make a difference.

A nice Riverfront isn't an essential by any means, but it's something that will improve the image of the City for investors and improve the quality of life and general civic pride of the local population, its not Ahmedabad's fault that it is one of the few cities in India that actually has adequate infrastructure (roads/water/electricity etc), therefore allowing it to develop some of the seemingly more "frivolous" aspects of city planning such as riverfronts and parks.

Originally Posted by GJ10

Now you can walk on this Wall Street

Originally Posted by vibs89

image hosted on flickr


Latest works that are going on

-Work up to walk way level has been completed from Railway bridge to Vasna
-Retaining wall work has been 40% completed
-For clean river water, suez diversion work is on. Pipeline work is nearly completed from Dafnala to Sardar bridge. Intermediate pumping station, Terminate pumping station and rising pipe line works are on. Work in Sardar bridge to Vasna barrage stretch has been started recently. A duct is being created in this stretch to facilitate sue to reach up to the suez treatment plant near Vasna barrage.
-For work on level upper than walk way special 7 to 20 metre wide earth fill work is being done on both the sids of the river bank from railway bridge to Vasna barrage. General earth filling work is on from Railway bridge to Sardar bridge on the western side of the river. General earth filling work is nearly completed from Gandhi bridge to Nehru bridge.

Source: http://deshgujarat.com/2009/01/11/am...mation-centre/

Originally Posted by viedumonde

Sabarmati riverfront by 2010

Renu Rajaram

The Sabarmati riverfront development project in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is progressing at a fast pace. Phase-I of the project, extending from the railway bridge near Sabarmati Ashram to Vasna barrage, is over, and work on phase-II has begun. The project, located along 10 km of the river bank, is expected to be complete by 2010—and promises to give a new face to Ahmedabad. The total investment in the two phases is likely to touch Rs 700 crore.
The scheme envisages comprehensive development of both the banks of the historical river which passes through the centre of the walled city. It involves river dredging, constructing retaining walls, providing storm water outfalls, ghats and jetties, reclaiming 162 hectares, providing interceptor sewers, creating parks gardens, designing new streets and promenades with better street lighting, and housing for economically weaker sections.
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation floated Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation Ltd in 1997, though the project was inaugurated only in April 2003, and actual work on the project started in early 2005. SRFDCL appointed Environmental Planning Collaborative, a city-based not-for-profit urban planning and development management consulting firm to prepare a comprehensive proposal for the development of Sabarmati riverfront.
Anand Patel, Architect, HCP Design and Project Management, a sister concern of EPC, says that major works undertaken so far include construction of a two ft thick and 40-55 ft deep 'diaphragm' to separate the 30-ft wide promenade or walkway and a 'retention' wall which is being built along the promenade. Though the walkway is almost complete, it is not yet open for public as work on the wall is still in progress. SRFDCL has so far spent Rs 250 crore on phase-I.
About 70 per cent work on laying 'interceptor' sewers on either side of the river has been completed. The two sewer lines will carry the city's sewage to the two treatment plants in Vasna and Pirana, thereby keeping the river clean, which remains polluted as sewage falls directly into it.
SRFDCL officials said currently work is on for reclamation of about 162 hectares along the riverbank. This would help generate enough land for construction of roads, gardens, markets, commercial and residential space, public utilities, ghats and promenades on either side of the river. According to officials, the land would be available by April-May 2009. About 28 per cent land would be consumed for road development, 26 per cent for gardens and 22 per cent (4.62 hectares) for sale for development of commercial and residential purpose.
River Sabarmati flows from north to south in the centre of Ahmedabad, splitting the city in almost two equal parts. Appropriate development of the riverfront can turn the river into a major asset and improve the quality of environment and life as well as infrastructure in the city.

Originally Posted by kenilabcl

Sabarmati Riverfront Update

There will be no concept of Floor Space Index (FSI) on Sabarmati Riverfront for now. As the present plan stands, the 20-per cent of land reserved for commercial development has perfect pre-decided geometrical plot shapes that would define the shape of building coming on them and each shape has been assigned the number of floors to go with it. This is the new skyline of the riverfront. Shapes varying from a circle, square, rhombus, quadrilateral and a variety of geometrical forms line the riverfront. These shapes form the building footprint on the riverfront. The saleable built-up area is calculated as a multiple of the area of the footprint and the number of floors assigned to each of the plot shape. The concept of margin space would be completely eliminated from the design as there would be no compound walls encircling the buildings — mainly to save on public space. The owner of a building would have slot for parking within the premises and there would be public parking spaces also. “Our emphasis is on public space. We have reserved 20 per cent of reclaimed land for sale. If costs are recovered by selling building space within 16 per cent of the land, then the rest of the four per cent would be used as public space,” said a senior official of Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL). Once finalised, the shapes and saleable built-up area would be thrown open for investors for discussions and suggestions. A separate development control regulation has been drafted by SRFDCL and is pending approval from the state urban development department. In Wednesday’s SRFDCL board meeting, the committee sanctioned two roads — a sixlane 30-m-wide road which is the ‘East River Drive’, while a four-lane 24-m-wide road, called the ‘West River Drive’. Civil utilities like drainage, electric lines, water and storm water drain utilities would be laid along side road. For now, the roads would extend from Dafnala to Sardar bridge on the east side and from Paldi to Usmanpura on the west side. Pedestrians would have direct access to the river on both banks, while on a small stretch on the eastern side the road will move away from the river because of the unusual topography. Nearly 42.8 hectares of parks and gardens have been envisaged along the river edge to host different recreational functions.

Originally Posted by GJ10

Narendra Modi visits Sabarmati Rivefront

Originally Posted by GJ10

Heres a vid with a really nice vantage point over the Sabarmati Riverfront Development, its shaping up well!

This is taken during the Intl Kite Festival that is currently going on (Jan 2010)

Originally Posted by The Patel

Three proposals received for floating restaurant in Sabarmati river

You can have candlelit dinners aboard a floating restaurant on the Sabarmati river by the end of this year if everything goes according to plan.

The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited(SRFDCL) has as of now planned to have floating restaurants service starting at two places — near Sardar bridge and near Nehru bridge. The plan is to either provide a free ferry service to transport customers to the floating restaurants, or the floating restaurant itself will collect customers from the riverbank.

SRFDCL has received three ‘expressions of interest’ to start a floating restaurant service on the Sabarmati River and five proposals to start a boating transport service on the river. Of the three ‘expressions of interest’ received, one is from Ahmedabad-based Amrapali Group, the other from Akshar Travel and the third is from Hotel Crown.

SRFDCL also plans to start a boating service, water transport service and water sports facilities.

Originally Posted by GJ10

Source: DeshGujarat

Originally Posted by GJ10

Related to the above...

Spotlight on Sabarmati Riverfront

Originally Posted by India101

Riverfront to be highlighted at Commonwealth meet

I'm looking forward to seeing these buildings.

[viedumonde]

STUDIES BY THE ARCHIECT HIMSELF

[GJ10]

Wow!! those are some great finds Viedumonde!!!

Good effort India101 putting those all together!!

This thread is def a good idea, props to SaKrishna! Now that most of the core-structural work is being finished, the whole riverfront will now start to take shape with buildings coming up

And hopefully more pics as the site opens up to the public!

[viedumonde]

Found this while browsing... but the source is not trustworthy
Phase II Of The Project Envisages An Additional 51-Km Route Ahmedabad: Imagine traveling by the Sabarmati riverfront in metro rail. This was to be a reality when the ambitious metro project was drawn up. It is not just the Vishala-Akshardham route and the Thaltej-Kalupur corridor that the project was all about. In fact, it had a second phase, which aimed at setting up a corridor along the banks of Sabarmati and adding 51 km to the phase 1 while traversing from Changodar, Sarkhej, Iskon along SG Road, Khodiyar, Tarapur up to GIFT city.
The route is spelt out in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) report submitted to the state government in 2005. The second phase of the metro has at least four extensions and covered several important destinations. This also involved a few stations on the 132-feet Ring Road.
DMRC, however, refused a direct connection to the airport for both the metro rail and the regional rail stating that “it would not be justified even in 2035 as the air passenger growth rate would be just 10 per cent by that year”.
The total phase 1 entailed a 43.55-km route while phase 2 involved a route of an additional 51 km. An extension of the metro railway was sought from Vasna to Changodar, Sarkhej to Gandhinagar via SG Road, another line from Vasna to Sabarmati along the 132-feet Ring Road and an exclusive corridor along the Sabarmati riverfront.
Another major move was fusing the metro with the regional rail network that passes right through the heart of the city. The DMRC had demanded three extensions to the regional rail tracks —Barejadi-Kalupur-Kalol
and Kalupur-Naroda. The extension involved a line along the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar via SG Road and one between Vasna and Sabarmati.
“The regional rail extensions together with the existing BRTS network was to complete the seamless transport system for the city. In fact, the complete extension of the regional rail network and the BRTS was meant to connect the metro rail by 2025. Some of the metro changeover junctions where one could shift from one mode of transport to the other were few according to the new plan. We are looking into the nitty gritty of the sys tem,” said a senior GIDB official

[sakrishna]

Thanks India101. You are the best.

[shreyas1684]

nice job guys...

[Effer]

Great job India101, so when is the entire project slated for completion?

[India101]

Thanks guys

And nice finds viedumonde. Post #7 is really interesting.

[aks_sky]

Whoa awesome find guys!! nice work

[viedumonde]

Originally Posted by India101

Thanks guys

And nice finds viedumonde. Post #7 is really interesting.

Thanks.

[sakrishna]

Originally Posted by viedumonde

Found this while browsing... but the source is not trustworthy

Nice find vierumonde. Hope Ahmedabad metro gets green signal soon.
Then if everythis goes well as per the plan, it'll be a nice ride in Metro along the river bank.
Hope to visit Gujarat's commercial capital some day.

[viedumonde]

Personally I dont think its a good idea to run a full scale metro on the riverbank. I dont know how to put this in better terminology, but the number of people depending on the metro will reduce to half for the simplest reason that one whole side is just river, and another side is commercial district.

If its run on Ashram road or the Railway line parallel to Ashram road, the number of people depending on the system will be more than what will it be on the riverbank.

They should start a cheaper solution like a cable car running from Vadaj, all the way to Paldi for touristic purpose.

[India101]

They should put a monorail. It would be quieter...

[India101]

Another render here. That link has some other river/waterfront developments from around the world.



And this was obviously from a newspaper posted here, also has articles of other stuff in Ahmedabad.

[India101]

An aerial view of the river, from here.