Ahmedabad Projects thread

[GJ10]

Video of one of Ahmedabad main roads with development going on.



Its quite long, and theres not much going on after Fun Republic, but given that Ahmedabad is so unrepresented, I thought it might be interesting anyway.

[GJ10]

Video of New bridge being constructed over Sabarmati

http://deshgujarat.com/2007/02/11/ah...his-yearvideo/

The presenter Japan Pathak (legend!), just points out the Thermal Power Plant with the nearby Subhash Bridge.

Further South, down the River he shows Gandhi Bridge. A new bridge is being built in between these.

West Side = Dudheshwar
East Side = Vadaj (This area has some slums that are going to be heavily redeveloped)

Aiming to reduce the traffic strain on Gandhi Bridge, coming from the Income Tax Building area.

So while Ahmedabad a few years ago only had 5 bridges, the expansion of the city has led to one more bridge being counted as part of the city, with two more bridges, including this one being built, so that means in the coming year there will be 8 brides crossing the Sabarmati!

[superdesi2100]

Originally Posted by GJ10

Video of New bridge being constructed over Sabarmati

http://deshgujarat.com/2007/02/11/ah...his-yearvideo/

The presenter Japan Pathak (legend!), just points out the Thermal Power Plant with the nearby Subhash Bridge.

Further South, down the River he shows Gandhi Bridge. A new bridge is being built in between these.

West Side = Dudheshwar
East Side = Vadaj (This area has some slums that are going to be heavily redeveloped)

Aiming to reduce the traffic strain on Gandhi Bridge, coming from the Income Tax Building area.

So while Ahmedabad a few years ago only had 5 bridges, the expansion of the city has led to one more bridge being counted as part of the city, with two more bridges, including this one being built, so that means in the coming year there will be 8 brides crossing the Sabarmati!

Wow! Didn't know about 2 more bridges. I attended the inauguration ceremony of the new Vasna Pirana Bridge in December.

I still remember up until 1998 Sabarmati had 5 single lane bridges. In 1998 AMC expanded Sardar Bridge and Nehru Bridge and built an entirely new Ellis bridge. Now add to that 3 more bridges. This should help in removing bottlenecks at Calico/Jamalpur and S.T. areas to a great extent.

BTW, in January - Riverfront project was going on pretty well. Relocation of more than 75% of the slums was complete. Only near Vadaj and Usmanpura, some of the slum dwellers still refuse to leave...

[GJ10]

Its really amazing how things change, back when I was younger, Gujarati friends and my cousins who were visiting India would always come back reporting about how going to Gujarat was always like stepping back in time, dirtier, smellier and just generally more backwards than places like Jaipur and Agra. Although outbreak of the plague gave a lot of ammunition to make fun of the Surtis

But that whole situation has been completely reversed in the last 15years or so. Now people talk about how great it is to see the Taj Mahal, Hawa Mahal etc but how its nice to get back to civilisation when in Gujarat!

I personally havent been back in a few years, but I suspect that some parts of Gujarat are now probably comparable to even Mumbai, but thats just a guess!

[superdesi2100]

Originally Posted by GJ10

Its really amazing how things change, back when I was younger, Gujarati friends and my cousins who were visiting India would always come back reporting about how going to Gujarat was always like stepping back in time, dirtier, smellier and just generally more backwards than places like Jaipur and Agra. Although outbreak of the plague gave a lot of ammunition to make fun of the Surtis

But that whole situation has been completely reversed in the last 15years or so. Now people talk about how great it is to see the Taj Mahal, Hawa Mahal etc but how its nice to get back to civilisation when in Gujarat!

I personally havent been back in a few years, but I suspect that some parts of Gujarat are now probably comparable to even Mumbai, but thats just a guess!

Umm... No. Definitely not comparable to Mumbai. I have been to Ahmedabad twice in last 2 years. Things have changed and as far as I can see they have changed for better...Pollution is way down - no more itchy eyes. Narmada water in Sabarmati - no water problem anymore. Vastrapur Lake and Kankaria Lake have been renovated and they are fantastic. If you go drive in Judge's Bungalow, Satellite, C.G. Road, 132 ft Ring Road, S.G. Highway at night, you will feel as if you are in a foreign country. Roads are a lot better... only one thing that has become worse is traffic in the old city area. But I doubt there is anything AMC can do about it.

[GJ10]

Oh well, just a guess anyway, someday maybe!

Hopefully the Janmarg BRTS will help ease the traffic and further reduce the pollution at the same time.

Old parts of cities are always going to be difficult to sort out, but if the rest is modernised, keeping a historic core can really add to the charm of the city, similar to continental Europe.

Tourists often end up in Ahmedabad simply because its en route between Mumbai and Rajasthan, I suspect that as things improve progressively, Ahmedabad could emerge as an actual destination rather than just a transit point.

[superdesi2100]

Well the government has relaxed FSI norms on S.G. Highway and Riverfront. So it is possible to build buildings up to 50 (may be 60) floors now. Based on what I hear from my friends in Ahmedabad, there is planning by major developers to build high rise buildings - mainly hotels and offices - in near future... lets see if it materializes...

[Jai]

-------==--=--==-------

Ahmedabad Mixed Development Design Proposal, Ahmedabad






Perhaps one of the hotels coming up in the CBD? Designed by SAA Architects, Singapore.

-------==--=--==-------

[superdesi2100]

On AMC to-do list: 5,000 houses for urban poor
http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=233521

With a view to achieving the objective of securing ‘zero slum’ city tag for Ahmedabad, the standing committee on Thursday passed a resolution to build 5,184 housing units for the urban poor in the current year. The AMC has assigned itself the target of constructing 60,000 housing units in the next five years to achieve this objective.

According to official estimates of the AMC, 41 per cent of the city’s population lives in chawls, shanties and slums and to help them realise their dream of having own house, the AMC has decided to build 18,976 houses for these groups in the first phase of the ambitious zero-slum plan. The civic body proposes to spend Rs 115 crore for this project in the first phase. These houses will be ground floor-plus three floors flats as per new design, according to standing committee chairperson Madhuben Patel.

Half of the cost of these houses will be borne by the Central Government and the State Government under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Earlier the AMC had offered prime land owned by it in various areas to private builders in lieu of constructing these houses. However, later it changed its mind and withdrew the old scheme, also called Bold Approach Scheme’ floated by then municipal commissioner R K Tripathy. It later decided to put the scheme under JNNURM wherein 35 per cent of the cost would be met by the Central Government, 15 per cent by the State Government and the remaining 50 per cent by the AMC.

The areas where the houses for urban poor are to be built are: Nava Vadaj and Vasna barrage-512 houses each, Shahwadi-768 houses, Girdharnagar-96 houses, Dudheshwar-320 houses, Near Gujarat Cotton Mills-1,024 houses, Ajit Mills Rakhial-704 houses, Raipur Mills Bapunagar-384 houses, Vivekanand Mills Bapunagar-288 houses, Saraspur Mills Shaherkotda- 416 houses and Sarangapur- 160 houses.

[superdesi2100]

AUDA ventures into new project to give waterbodies a facelift
http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=233530

The Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority( AUDA) has embarked on a monolithic job to desilt and interlink 44 lakes and ponds in 35 villages within the periphery of the Sardar Patel Ring Road. Being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 190 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the project not only envisages the development of the catchment area by laying underground stormwater drains to steer the local area’s rainwater into a lake or pond, but also interconnecting the waterbodies in groups and steering extra rainwater, in case of heavy monsoons, into the Sabarmati and Gota-Godavi Canal to prevent localised flooding.

The project also involves connecting these waterbodies with Narmada main canal for continuous supply of water to the water bodies, incase monsoon rains are scanty. Under the project, all these water bodies, most of whom have silted due to various reasons, will be desilted and parks and gardens with walking plaza, will be developed for the local population’s amusement.

Urbanisation has lead to depletion of underground water table and to recharge underground aquifers, AUDA is constructing percolating borewells upto a depth of 80 meters. AUDA engineers believe percolating wells in lakes will raise the underground water table which has been descending due to continuous exploitation by multi-storeyed buildings due to non-availability of surface water for domestic use.

According to AUDA Chief Executive Officer J G Pandya, “250 percolating wells have already been constructed. Once all water bodies with percolating wells were ready, 400 crore liters of water can be stored.” He said 11 lakes and ponds had already been interconnected in three groups. While Thaltej, Bodakdev and Prahladnagar lakes will fall into Sabarmati river, Kali, Ranip, Chandlodia and Transit ponds will fall into Gota-Godavi Canal. Work to connect Memnagar, Makraba and Sarkhej ponds along with other ponds is still in progress.

Pandya said besides checking local floods and recharging underground aquifers, beautiful lawns and gardens will also be established to check crowd at Kankaria lake which is crowded in evenings everyday and becomes unmanageable on Sundays and other holidays. He asserted that if amusement facilities were established near everyone’s houses, people will not go to far-flung areas like Kankaria lake.

[india]

Multi-crore makeover for A'bad airport.
18 Jun, 2007 l 0124 hrs IST l Paul John | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad is soon to find itself in the league of metros, for, plans are afoot to give a complete makeover to the city airport. In addition to that, it'll also get ready to welcome the world's biggest commercial aircraft — the Airbus A-380 — when it touches down in 2010.

The city airport is expected to be transformed into an ultra-modern facility, what with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) having plans running into crores up its sleeve.

AAI plans to have shopping malls, multiplexes, a high-end luxury hotel, transit hotels and motels, food courts and recreational and entertainment centres on either side of the approach road leading to the airport.

"A consultant from Hyderabad has already been roped in for tendering and formulating of terms and conditions for work at the international airport," says Ahmedabad airport director S D Awasthi. Thirty acres of land have already been earmarked for the expansion.

At the refurbished terminals, passengers will not have to take those packed bus-rides to the aircraft. As in modern airports, there will be four aero-bridges at the domestic terminal and six at the new international terminal. Passengers can walk into the aircraft from the departure lounge itself.

Also, the existing international terminal will exclusively handle cargo.

The terminal will be shifted to the airport colony campus. Once ready, the domestic and international terminals together will have enough room to park 33 aircraft. At present, they can handle only 13. "Work on runway extension and new parking space for the six wide-body aircraft would be completed by October this year," says Awasthi.

"We want the runway extended faster as the first batch of Kingfisher Airbus-380 will be here by 2010. Ahmedabad acts as a diversion airfield and transit point for wide-body flights flying towards Delhi and Mumbai.

There are seven domestic airlines operating 90 flights daily and four international airlines operating from the airport.

In April alone, Indian introduced a daily Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Muscat flight. Jet Airways launched the first non-stop Ahmedabad-London service (twice weekly) while Air Arabia launched the daily Sharjah-Ahmedabad service in April.

In December last year, the Cabinet committee on economic affairs had given the AAI the go-ahead to construct a new international terminal in Ahmedabad, the total estimated cost of the project being Rs 291 crore.

(During his recent visit to Gujarat, Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel promised upgradation of the state's airports and their inter-linking. TOI takes a closer look at the ground realities.)

Source: Times of India

[IndiansUnite]

Alpha One

AlphaOne, Ahmedabad, is a mixed use development located at Vastrapur, a location considered central to the new developments in the city. It has easy access from all sides, especially Ring Road and SG Road.

The mixed use development will comprise Retail, Entertainment, Hotel, Spa and Service Apartments. The total area being developed is close to one million square feet, of which retail-cum-entertainment will comprise 700,000 square feet.

AlphaOne Ahmedabad, the city’s largest and most spectacular commercial development, is slated to come up in the heart of Ahmedabad, on the banks of the Vastrapur Lake. Designed in line with the highly successful global concept of City Centres, the mega project integrates retailing with entertainment, fine dining and hospitality services backed by state-of-the-art infrastructure, to create a world-class retail experience — for customers as well as retailers and marketers.

May Construction update
Excavation work in progress




more construction pics

Visit their website

[IndiansUnite]

DLF unveils Rs 850 cr IT SEZ in city

After months of speculation, realty giant DLF Ltd finally took the plunge into Gujarat with the announcement of a Rs 850 crore IT SEZ spread over 25 acres at Gandhinagar opposite Infocity.

DLF vice chairman Rajiv Singh also unveiled plans to put Gujarat among the group’s top 5 investment destinations including the Delhi NCR and Mumbai-Pune regions with investments of around Rs 6,000 crore of the next few years.

Unveiling the project that is slated to create 2.5 million sq ft of workspace and 30,000 jobs after completion 18 months later, Singh said the company will invest Rs 3,000 crore in setting up three IT SEZs including Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad (jointly with Ganesh Housing next to Nirma University) and Vadodara.

While work on the 35-acre IT SEZ at Ahmedabad is expected to start in the next couple of months, the company is scouting for 25-30 acres land near Vadodara.

"Another Rs 3,000 crore will be invested in setting up at least 5-6 hotels jointly with Hilton in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Jamnagar, as well as commercial and residential projects," Singh told newspersons.

Singh also hinted at bigger things in store. "We are keen on participating in infrastructure projects along with our joint venture partners in integrated townships, airports and ports. We have already expressed interest to the state government."

DLF would invest at least Rs 5,000 crore in one airport in Gujarat and another Rs 4,000 to Rs 5000 crore in a large greenfield port project in Gujarat.

[IndiansUnite]

editted..Already posted by Jai

[IndiansUnite]

Originally Posted by Vibs89

Sabarmati River front development renders

Another render -

The ambitious project involves creating embankments on both sides and developing a 10.5 km stretch along each of the banks — from Subhash Bridge to Vasna Barrage.

The project is poised to resuscitate the river’s decadent image and restore people’s pride in the Sabarmati. The project was first mooted by Bernard Kohn, a French architect in Ahmedabad during the early 1960s, along with other city planners. They visualised the development of the Sabarmati riverfront with a mix of commercial, recreational and residential structures from Gandhi Bridge to Sardar Bridge.

After various modifications, the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (SRDCL) was set up in 1997 to execute the plan. However, the project was kicked off only last year. The makeover required reclamation of about 30 hectares of land, a part of which was to be sold or leased for commercial development. The proposal aims at selffinance. “Our projections show that the project would be completed by 2008, at a proposed expenditure of Rs 1,060 crore,” says a senior officer of SRDCL.

There are, however, sharp deviations from Kohn’s original proposal. The new plan emphasises road network. A six-lane wide road, the ‘East River Drive’, has been proposed along the eastern bank, while a four- lane stretch, ‘West River Drive’, will come up on the other bank, apart from developing the riverfront as a public space for Amdavadis.

[TOI]

[Euromast]

Gujarat international financial tech city


Source

[IndiansUnite]

^Nice find Euromast! An 80 storey tower is planned!

Originally Posted by Suncity in June in the other Amd thread

A mega project for Ahmedabad

http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2007/jun/28gift.htm

Ahmedabad's Tagore Hall, popularly called Town Hall, witnessed inauguration of a plan to develop a financial services city consisting of an international financial city segment, domestic finance city sector, a technology park and an integrated township on Thursday. The project's foundation stone was laid by the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on early Thursday morning marked by a bhoomi puja.

From TOI :


Rendering of the 80 storey tower:



Its the same building that pops up in their hoarding/banner :



Some info on GIFT:




Shanghai’s ECADI to design glitzy skyline

The same firm that gave modern Shanghai its most defining structure in 1988 — the `Oriental Pearl’ or the Pearl Tower as it is popularly known, which at 450 metres is the world’s third tallest and Asia’s tallest building — is designing mega-city Ahmedabad and India’s most distinctive modern structure, the `Diamond Tower’. Come 2010, the diamond faceted signature building of GIFT will not just tower over modern Ahmedabad’s skyline but also put it on the global financial map, streets ahead of Mumbai. The steel and glass structure along with the masterplan of the GIFT project is being made by the 55-year old Shanghai-based East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co, Ltd (ECADI).
ECADI is...
An architectural services provider.
Has designed nearly 20,000 projects in over 20 countries.
Has bagged over 600 awards.
Has alliances with over 100 foreign design and engineering firms.

Some more info on GIFT:

Sick and tired of escalating costs in financial hubs like Mumbai, early movers like ICICI and Kotak Mahindra are already rushing to book space with others expected to follow suit.

ICICI group has acquired a 17-acre plot of land to set up its western region back office hub employing 30,000 persons right next to GIFT at an investment of Rs 1500 crore, even as Kotak Mahindra is learned to have signed an MoU to acquire nearly 2 million sq ft of space at GIFT for its financial services hub. A host of foreign banks, brokerage firms, non-banking finance companies and KPOs too are finding out that’s it makes smart business and finance sense to come to Ahmedabad.

Enthused by the growing business opportunities in this sector, eduational institutions too are gearing up to cater to the tsunami of demand for professionals that is sure to hit Amdavad by 2010 when the first phase of GIFT is ready with nearly 25 million sq ft of space and 1.4 lakh jobs. After all, the mega project is gunning to capture a 6-8% slice of the 800 million sq ft space and 10 million jobs that’s expected to be created for this industry in India by 2020.

Edited to add:

Come 2010, when both Gujarat and Maharashtra celebrate their 50th birthday, Amdavad will have its own GIFT that will boast of India’s tallest (300-400 metres) and most distinctive landmark — Diamond Tower — on the banks of Sabarmati at Shahpur village between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
The project, slated to commence construction by March 2008, is being developed by the Gujarat Finance City Development Company Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture between the Gujarat government and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS).

[TOI-Ahmedabad]

[Jai]

Um... holy CRAP! Didn't see this one coming! Great friggin find gents!!

This surely deserves a new thread in the SSC India Projects forum!

[Jai]

Can you upload screencaps and/or transcript of the whole TOI article (with date/issue number) as well?

[Jai]

Official website:
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT)

Check out their PDF (download fast!)
Presentation about GIFT

Some more renderings, taken from PDF and website:










Perspective view on the entire CBD:












3 Signature Towers:






I tried to enlarge and clarify the overall master plan rendering: