Estimated to cost Rs25 crore, new multi-storey office to be built in 3 years.
In the coming years, when one gazes at the eastern part of the riverfront, one of the buildings that is likely to catch the eye would be the office of the commissioner of police (CP). For, it is set to relocate to a bigger, grander address there. Mind you, this is no ordinary building. Planned as a multi-storey structure, the new office would also provide the city’s top cop with a panoramic view of the Sabarmati riverfront!
According to details available, the new office is being planned on the parade ground of the police headquarters campus located less than a kilometre away from the CP’s current office. The building with a six-acre footprint would be divided into three wings — community, main office and communications. The Rs25-crore project, having an approach from the riverfront, will take three years to come up, said officials.
Confirming the development, Ahmedabad CP Shivanand Jha said the primary reason for the big shift is the minuscule size of the current CP’s office. The old three-storey building was originally a Parsi-owned bungalow taken over in 1961 and has no lift and lacks other facilities, too. The idea behind the new office is to bring all branches of the city office under a single roof, said the CP.
“It can be best described as a cubby hole with respect to the requirements that any commissioner’s office has. Owing to this, many branches and officials had to be shifted elsewhere over the years due to the expansion of the force and operations,” said Jha.
“With the new office, our plan is to have all possible police branches and their top officials on a single campus. Of course, there will be exceptions, such as branches that have to operate with a certain discretion,” he added.
The proposed project, under the aegis of the Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation (GSPHC), is presently in the planning stage. The corporation has shortlisted five architectural firms, which will pitch their designs based on the requirements given to them. Of the five, one each is from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Mumbai, while two are from Delhi.
“The firms have been asked to submit their respective designs for the multi-storey premises by November 15. We will then consult concerned officials and finalise one of the designs.
Subsequently, the tender notice for construction of the premises will be issued after due estimations,” said GSPHC joint managing director TS Bisht, adding that construction would begin at the end of February 2014.
“The project is estimated to cost around Rs25 crore of which the government has already allocated Rs10 crore this year. The rest would be allocated in the coming years as the construction is likely to take three years to complete,” said Bisht.
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