Megaproject: Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) -- General Development News and Discussions

[k4ran]

Nice work Jai, it looks great.

thx

[ab041937]

Wow!!!! Just like they say

This sh!t is beginning to take shape.

Thanks Jai!!! fantastic updates, great work

[bhopalus]

HOLY SHIT this is amazing

we need someone down there to take pics of construction!

[IndiansUnite]

Good work Jai. Thanks for digging out all the renders and plans. Thank God they redesigned the Diamond tower. The old design really lacks the wow factor and is far less iconic than the new design.

[harsh1802]

Holy cow....this is one hell of a mega project!

[TdotTdot]

wow the diamond tower is really rocking, definitely one of my fav skyscraper projects

[Nitro]

to be fair the old design and the new design are both amazing....i hope if they build GIFT II that they use ECADI again

[noobntleygik]

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-n...ession/315829/

Earlier, a 300-acre piece of land was earmarked for the proposed IIT, but with the Centre delaying the decision, the state government gifted it to the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.

This project is as real as its gonna get...

[mihir1310]

the designs are holy moly!!!!! .. BUt no matter how i try , the pessimistic part of me has to show its fears,given our history in these matters :-
Just hope the designs do not stay only on paper :S

[ab041937]

I came across this old news.. was wondering if the Little Japan is being refered for GIFT.

A 'Little Japan' on 100 sq km in Gujarat
14 Feb 2008, 0128 hrs IST,Rajiv Shah,TNN

GANDHINAGAR: A 'mini-Japan' may take shape in Gujarat soon. A high-level business delegation from the Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETRO), which visited Gujarat last week, has asked the state government to provide a vast area of 100 square kilometres, where the Japanese could build their own township.

The land has been sought along the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor which the Japanese government is helping to build.

"We have given them maps of the areas we can offer, so that they can have a closer look," a senior government official said after a meeting with nearly 40 top business executives who formed part of the delegation looking for opportunities along the DMIC.

The request to provide land for an exclusive Japanese industrial township came from JETRO vice-executive chairman Sunichi Yamamoto. The idea first cropped up during Chief Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan in April 2007.

Now, it has been left to the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) to work out details of the township with JETRO. The Japanese will return soon with a finalised location. Major industries keen to set up their offices in the township include Toshiba, Sumitomo, Chisso, Fujitrans.

The township will be primarily industrial and complete with residential complexes, medical, health and recreation facilities, restaurants, educational institutions. "Japanese companies will set up base here and will build the required infrastructure as per Japanese standards and requirements," the official said.

The official further said there is a tendency among Japanese to live in a cluster and feel at home wherever they are in the world. A similar project had been taken up in Thailand which has proved to be a successful model. The aim would be to give families of Japanese executives and workers a distinct flavour so that they don’t miss the environment back home.

The township will come up in any of the special investment regions' (SIRs) corridors proposed for development in the DMIC - Ahmedabad-Dholera, Ankleshwar-Vadodara, Dahej-Bharuch and Mehsana-Palanpur.

[noobntleygik]

Originally Posted by ab041937

I came across this old news.. was wondering if the Little Japan is being refered for GIFT.

No this is along the Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor which is being partly funded by Japan...has nothing to do with GIFT...

[bhopalus]

mention

Core group readies to roll investment summit ball for 2009

Gandhinagar, May 25 A High-powered core group of the state government on the 2009 Investment Summit is set to hold its first meeting on Tuesday, amid much anxiety and hope over the kind of target it has been given by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

While figures are still confined to the realm of guesswork, sources close to the CM said, "Obviously it has to cross the benchmark set in 2007." With the last edition of the biennial exercise having yielded promises of Rs 4.66 lakh crores, the mood in the industry team varies from anxiety to hope as a build up to the Tuesday meet.

"The meeting would set into motion the processes of executing the 2009 summit," informs an official. Headed by Industries and Energy Minister Saurabh Patel, the core group comprises all top bureaucrats of the government including chief secretary Manjula Subramaniam, Additional Chief Secretary D Rajagopalan, and officers from the CMO and industry related departments.

While the last summit's investments might see 25 per cent of the promises not being met, bureaucrats involved with the preparation inform that the home grown industry top honchos are also not loosening their pockets this time around.

During the 2007 summit, Reliance and Tatas made big-ticket announcement as their investments were lined up for the Jamnagar refinery and Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) respectively. The Adani Group too was in the process of coming out with its IPO and expansion plans for the port. Then there was the SEZ that made the corporate house announce its share of investments. Between them, they accounted for close to one-fourth of the investment promises. This time, all these groups would probably tread carefully.

The reasons for this are many. "The difficult international economic situation coupled with uncertainties for the next couple of quarters is surely going to be a dampener. Also the fact that 2009 is an election year, would weigh heavily on the minds of industrialists," feels a bureaucrat.

Officials have pegged all their hopes on the three big investment possibilities: the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the Gujarat International Finance Tec City (GIFT), and the Special Investment Regions (SIR). "As we see it, this also provides us with an opportunity to get Gujarat on the FDI map. The big three – DMIC, GIFT, and SIR – is what we are betting on," says an officer involved with the preparations.

[2Paise]

Gujarat banks on mega projects to lure global investors

Ahmedabad, June 24 (IANS): At the Vibrant Gujarat global investors summit in January next year, the Gujarat government’s accent will be on marketing the $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and the $6-billion Gujarat International Finance Tech-City (GIFT) projects. Officials told IANS Tuesday that besides these two mega projects, the state government will also focus on attracting investments in identified sunrise sectors such as biotechnology and nanotechnology.

The DMIC project, planned on the lines of the famous Tokyo-Osaka industrial corridor, covers Delhi and the National Capital Region around it, as well as the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

But the maximum area of the project passes through Gujarat - about 40 percent.

The officials said thanks to the DMIC project, Gujarat could have a dedicated petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals hub in the Bharuch-Dahej area, in addition to another in the Ahmedabad-Dholera stretch.

Besides, it could also build four industrial regions along the corridor.

The DMIC and the special economic zones that have been proposed along the corridor will cover 18 districts and an estimated 75 percent of the population. Gujarat hopes to attract an investment of Rs.2000 billion, estimated to generate 800,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The four industrial regions proposed are the Palanpur-Siddhpur-Mehsana sector in north Gujarat, the Vadodara-Bharuch stretch in central Gujarat, and the Surat-Navsari and Valsad-Umargaon zones in south Gujarat.

Dairy farming, textile mills, salt, ginning and value-added agri product sectors would benefit in north Gujarat, while in central Gujarat, it would be auto components, automobiles, electronics, chemicals, cement and pharmaceuticals.

In south Gujarat, the biotech, ceramic and engineering sectors would reap benefits.

The GIFT on the other hand, according to project chief executive officer D.S. Anjaria, could emerge as the world’s largest international finance centre, sprawled over 500 acres on the banks of the Sabarmati river near Gandhinagar.

The first phase of the project is planned to be operational by 2010, and Anjaria said memoranda of understanding (MoU) have already been signed with realtors to develop 90 million square metres, against the planned 75 million square metres.

“We are planning to develop the project at one time, instead of in phases,” he said. A 100-storey skyscraper - the tallest in India - surrounded by model townships, techno-parks, financial districts, and export-oriented unit parks would be developed.

The special economic zone (SEZ) proposed within the GIFT will have a financial centre, techno -parks, software parks, market zones, money exchanges, service units and education zones.

Anjaria said five Indian banks have already confirmed their location at GIFT, while two foreign banks have shown interest. “Stock markets and commodities markets are expected to come up in the SEZ,” he added.

Anjaria, who is a former chief secretary of Gujarat, said the Vibrant Gujarat summit is the “ripe time to market the project and clinch deals as we will have done much spadework on the project by that time.”

At the 2007 edition of the summit, the state attracted investment proposals worth Rs.4,628.35 billion.

Also, is it really 90 m sq meters or 90 m sq feet?

[Jai]

Some major news indeed! Major points from the article....

Firstly, the size of GIFT has grown 20%! From 75 to 90 million sq ft!

Secondly, due to the overwhelming demand (its already close to if not completely sold out),the entire project is going up all at once, not in phases!

And lastly, it seems Diamond Tower has grown even taller -- to 100 stories! Assuming the ratio stays the same as the old design (400m:80fl), the building would presumably be 500 meters/1,640 feet tall!

[Jai]

I just thought of something... last month I had posted elsewhere an article saying that a new Gujarat project, 'nano city' (not to be confused with the one in Haryana) will have a 100 storey tower.

Did the reporter who wrote that story get mixed up? Is the 100 storied tower in that article actually referring to the Diamond Tower? Or is there two 100 storied projects in the pipeline for Guj?

Inquiring minds want to know

[GJ10]

All credit to Tapsboy @ flickr

Found these completely by accident, but these have been labelled by the photographer as the location of GIFT!!!

He has many pics of the Sabarmati Redevelopment which I am soon going to post here on SSC, so I'm pretty confident that he's the kind of guy who follows such development projects and therefore knows the location of the GIFT project!

Pics uploaded Jun 25th, but no particular way of knowing when they were taken.

Admittedly nothing more than a cleared/flattened/worked piece of land… but hey, at least it’s been cleared/flattened/worked





For me and for anyone following this project, any sort of actual site updates were probably the only thing really lacking!

Hopefully there will be plenty more updates to come!

[Euromast]

[bhopalus]

http://www.ecadi.com/en/news_d.php?id=337

ECADI Attended Davos Economic Forum in Dalian-Discussing Strategical Cooperation with Gujarat, India 2007-09-30
Davos annual meeting is referred to as the unofficial economics summit meeting by western media with its biggest feature to emphasize particularly on strategically thinking service for entrepreneurs to develop their business. From 6 September 2007 to 8 September 2007, the summer Davos Economic Forum- Annual Meeting of the New Champions was held in Dalian, China.

Gujarat is one of the fastest growing economic zones in the world. It has attracted much foreign investment, representing nearly 25% of that attracted by India. Therefore, India's Gujarat was invited to attend this meeting, and a promotion conference of Gujarat was also held. As a member of the joint design group for Gujarat International Finance Town Project which plays a crucial role in helping improve investment environment and attract foreign funds, ECADI was invited by the owner of the Project to attend the conference. On behalf of ECADI, Mr. Yao Wenlin, attended the conference and discussed in-depth strategic cooperation between ECADI and Gujarat with the other guests, including Governor of Gujarat.

During the meeting, Governor of Gujarat spoke very highly of the plan by our Company for Gujarat International Finance Town Project, and hoped our Company to continue to bring ideas from our valuable experiences in China for the design of this project. The Governor also encouraged ECADI to play an active role in turning this project into a worldwide advanced urban district. He also extended his intention that ECADI may serve more projects in the new town construction of India.

Meanwhile, President Yao Wenlin went on an in-depth discussion with President of IL&FS Company, which is one of the owners of this project and also one of the largest basic facilities development companies in India, on participation of our Company in IL&FS Company's various development projects. The bilateral communication involves issues of how to participate in the projects in Gujarat and how to cooperate strategically between both parties in fields such as project information exchange and human resources exchange.

[vibs89]

According to www.deshgujarat.com says the construction will itself start this month.

First phase work of GIFT set to begin this month(June 08)

Work on the first phase of the super ambitious, glitzy, global financial hub Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) near Gandhinagar is expected to start this month.

GIFT will come up on 500 acres and will have a Special Economic Zone(SEZ), international education zone, integrated townships, an entertainment zone, hotels, a convention centre, an international techno park, software technology park of India(STPI) units, shopping malls, stock exchanges and services units. It would also function as an integrated city-centre with extensive residential, commercial and public spaces.

Chief Minister Shree Narendra Modi hopes the central business district would rival Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris and London, say officials.

In all, GIFT is expected to have a cluster of 17 high-rise commercial buildings, with the tallest being the signature 80 storey, 400 meter Diamond Tower.

The project would have more than 80 million square feet of built-up area in a highly concentrated and vertical form.

To be developed along the Sabarmati River, GIFT would have advanced facilities like inner city light rail transit systems (LRTS), dedicated and guaranteed power and water facilities and central cooling services.

The first phase of the project, covering 25 million square feet, is scheduled to be operational by mid-2010.

Pre-construction activities like road building in the neighborhood of the project site have started. Fifteen million square feet of the floor space of the first phase has been secured by a host of national and international companies.

The idea of GIFT was born during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, 2007 and is being planned by East China Architectural Design and Research Institute (EXADI), which is responsible for planning much of Shanghai, and Fairwood Consultants India. Yao Wen Lin, ECADI board chairman, has been quoted as saying that GIFT’s design would excel Shanghai, say state government officials.

The project is being implemented by Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd, a joing venture between the state run Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) and infrastructure Lease and Financial Services (IL&FS).

The union government has cleared the SEZ to be developed over 250 acres of the project area.

The rest would be a Domestic Tariff Area (DTA), which would function as a domestic financial district with a separate technology park, finance and tech services, an export-oriented undertaking park, a domestic market zone and domestic utilities.

The multi-service SEZ, which is expected to attract Rs.150 billion($3.8 billion) in investments, is targeting exports worth $1 billion in the first three years beginning 2010, when the first phase of the project will become operational.

Current projections estimate that exports will double to #2 billion by 2015 and $3 billion by 2020. A total job creation of one million is estimated by 2020, officials say.

As of now, five types of businesses have been contemplated – a global BPO centre, operations hub for domestic financial services providing mid-office and back-office related activities, a global IT hub for financial services, a global research and development centre for emerging sectors like pharmaceuticals and a financial centre for selected product markets.

Source: http://deshgujarat.com/2008/06/04/fi...-monthjune-08/

[bhopalus]

That article seems wrong because they make the amount of land bigger and it's supposed to all come up at once, not in phases and the tower has been raised by 20 floors....