The Times of India      24.12.2014  

New TP to focus on local development

AHMEDABAD: With an emphasis on local area plan in addressing issues like transportation, stormwater drainage systems, access routes, greening and other civic necessities, the new development plan for Ahmedabad till 2021 has taken a progressive shift from the conventional wisdom of town planning.

The development plan is poised to generate funds for civic infrastructure from chargeable FSI in each of designated zones. The Transit Oriented Zone (TOZ) spread over 45km with an allotted FSI of 5.4 will generate funds from the sale of 3.6 FSI; similar is the case for buildings coming up on the central business district on the 2.5km stretch Ashram Road.

Then there is the affordable housing zone which has an FSI of 2.7 will include a chargeable FSI of 0.9. But these funds would largely depend on the number of projects that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) are able to attract to these zones. This will involve redevelopment of many of the existing old buildings.

In Koteshwar, Rancharda, Bhadaj and Shilaj, small pockets designated as general agriculture zones have been re-designated for residential areas and gamtal. In Gota, portions reserved for general industrial zone is re-designated for residential low-rise. Similar is the case for small portions of area in Asarwa, Saijpur Bogha Vastral, Ramol and Kathwada, where general industrial area is being re-designated as residential —mainly low-rise zones.

The development has also packed in a number of safety features. It was required the setting up of a special committee of six persons headed by the municipal commissioner which will pass buildings of 45 metres and above. The notification has also fixed the qualifications and the number of years of experience of structural engineers for high-rises. Besides, there will be CCTV cameras for security of commercial buildings and compulsory annual audit of fire safety.

"There are also specifications for parking provisions for buildings that cover between 750 square metres to 2,000 sq mts area. In such a case, a 40% reservation of utilizable FSI area has to be designated for parking," says a senior official of AUDA.