A compact & vertical city

The new blueprint of Ahmedabad’s development focuses more on a healthy lifestyle in a green and affordable city with strong social and physical infrastructure. The well- developed areas with established civic infrastructure are at the core of the second revised development plan (DP) passed by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) on Friday.

The DP proposed to maintain the compactness of the city by not releasing new land for development, except for a one-km-spread along the 76 km Sardar Patel Ring Road. A compact city implies less spending on infrastructure, high population density, less travel time, optimum use of public transport and lower crime rate. The less the urban sprawl, healthier the lifestyle, as people get more time to spend with family, friends and on leisure.

On the other hand, high density of population means pressure on civic infrastructure. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will have to augment the capacity of facilities like water and drainage, otherwise life will become tough for citizens.

Ahmedabad’s dream of adding skyscrapers to its skyline is going to be reality soon. The new GDCR has not put any height restrictions on Sabarmati Riverfront and central business district (CBD). Moreover, it has allowed upto 70 metre height for structures, depending on road width.
A higher FSI along the transit corridor and in CBD is likely to attract bigger players.

Until now, national real estate players kept a distance from Ahmedabad due to height and FSI restrictions. Now, they are likely to give fierce competition to local developers as they have technology and deep pockets for setting up skyscrapers.

The relaxed norms of height and FSI will result in reduction of property cost. As per the DP, 50% of permissible FSI will be made available by paying 40% of jantri rates. Moreover, in 200 metre radius of BRTS and Metro route, FSI of 4 has been proposed. An FSI of 4 has been proposed in the affordable housing zone of 1 km along SP Ring Road and 1,706 sq km area from Narol to Naroda in the eastern part. It is likely to slash property price by nearly 20% not only in new schemes but also in existing ones. 

The provision for taking ground coverage from 30% to 51% will help in reducing the height of the building and thus construction cost. Developers will be able to pass on the benefit to customers to survive amid fierce competition.

However, the negative side of declaration of affordable housing zone on the outskirts is that middle class people’s travel time will increase. The government will have to facilitate social infrastructure in this new R-AH zone.

The provisions in the DP seem to have focused on making urban transportation system viable. A high population density corridor will get more passengers for both Metro and BRTS. It will have the additional advantage of reducing private vehicles on the road, which in turn will ease traffic and reduce parking woes.

Auda authorities seem to have emphasised on beautification of the city with planned and uniform development, as the front margin has been fixed depending on road width. The minimum side margin has been fixed taking into consideration fire-safety norms.

The DP does not have any provision for development in R-3 zone, leaving developers in a tizzy. A few developers are of the opinion that as urban infrastructure will be created for R-AH zone on SP Ring Road, it would have catered to development in R-3 zone as well without additional cost. However, the authorities might have restricted development for maintaining the green cover around the city.

In a nutshell, Auda has focused more on optimum use of existing infrastructure and resources rather than encouraging urban sprawl. Moreover, it has created a source of revenue in the form of paid FSI which will help in augmenting the capacity of civic infrastructure.