Enhanced connectivity will ensure evolution of Ahmedabad – Gandhinagar to a Global Business Centre Mumbai, Maharashtra, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
The Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project Phase II will link GIFT City and Airport through sub-lines. The enhanced connectivity will ensure evolution of Ahmedabad – Gandhinagar to a Global Business Centre.
How important is high-speed connectivity for evolution of a city into a global business centre? Let us consider Ahmedabad, among the fast growing urban conglomerations in India. The real estate scenario in Ahmedabad has kept pace with the city’s growth, and transport linkages – mostly road transport – have kept the city linked. Close to Ahmedabad is the state capital Gandhinagar, approximately 25 kms away. The past decade has witnessed the open space in between the two is fast being converted into real estate development; the day is not far when it will be difficult to figure out where Ahmedabad ends and Gandhinagar begins. Although there is a railway line that links the two cities, bulk of the daily commute is still powered by buses and other forms of road transport.
From residential to work spaces as also lifestyle spaces like retail, entertainment, academic and medical real estate, Ahmedabad has seen all these segments grow, in sync with the road linkages. The future growth will be driven by mega job creating initiatives like Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), which is situated between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The SEZ as also the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) areas are expected to drive growth, and impact Ahmedabad’s real estate, going into the future. Will just road linkages work for the new scenario?
Connectivity is the essence of any urban conglomeration evolving from a business city to a global business centre, and the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project promises to create high-speed transport linkages which will seamlessly connect important locations in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. These linkages are expected to create an economic upsurge, as a result of the quick connectivity. Recent media reports say the state government of Gujarat has prepared a new master plan for Phase II of the metro, which will link Ahmedabad (Motera) to Gandhinagar (Mahatma Mandir).
The enhanced connectivity that Phase II offers includes important locations like Motera Stadium, Tapovan Circle, GNLU, Infocity, Sachivalaya, Akshardham and Mahatma Mandir. This phase will also connect Ahmedabad Airport and GIFT City in 2 sub-lines. This linkage with the SVP Airport and GIFT City to Ahmedabad. This Metro rail linkage will ensure that the IFSC in GIFT City delivers the advantage it promises to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar while evolving as a Global Business centre. It is also a positive for our project, Hiranandani Signature, which is the first operational work-space within the IFSC in GIFT City. Hiranandani Signature has recently been awarded the Green Building Certification – Gold Rating, and it represents the Green and Sustainable Development aspects which have been maintained while creating the commercial tower built as per Global Best Practices followed in GIFT City. The Metro Linkage will further enhance Hiranandani Signature’s attractiveness for those looking at leveraging growth prospects in the IFSC, GIFT City.
Not just GIFT City, but, as a result of this connectivity, I foresee commercial real estate leasing and buying activity increasing across the linked areas from Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar through the future. GIFT City has the potential to create 500,000 direct and an equal number of indirect jobs which would require 62 million square feet of office and residential space. In line with similar leading Global Financial Centers, GIFT City targets a 6 to 8 per cent share of the financial services potential in India, and we need to understand the importance of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project Phase II linkage in this light.
The success story of Indian Real Estate will be written by projects that combine residential real estate and office spaces. I would add here, the need for high-speed connectivity to drive this growth – which is what the Ahmedabad Metro Railway Project has the potential to do. This aspect also dove-tails perfectly with the mixed-use, integrated townships model which has been created by the Hiranandani Group, we are ‘on the drawing board’ with a similar project in Ahmedabad.
Real Estate in Ahmedabad – Gandhinagar will be constructed using global best practices, work spaces will provide global features – which will make areas linked by the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project preferred locations for the future-ready Indian corporate entity looking to set up operations in Ahmedabad. The future real estate success story in Ahmedabad will be about high-sped connectivity coupled with linkages to important locations like GIFT City and the SVP Airport. This will ensure global standards, along with that infrastructure which enhances lifestyles — and thanks to the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project, the dream will come true: Ahmedabad’s real estate will offer best options with global standards, making it a Global Business Centre.
Dr Niranjan Hiranandani is Founder & MD, Hiranandani Group. His recent initiative is Hiranandani Communities. He is the Founder and First President (Maharashtra), National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), which works under the aegis of Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India.