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The city’s residential buildings have begun their skyward ascent. After the state’s tallest building, a 118-metre residential complex, was given go-ahead near the Science City complex by state government in December, three more proposals of 32-33-floor buildings have reached the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to be recommended to the government under the August 2020 policy for tall buildings.
These buildings are proposed in Gota, on Bopal-Ambli road and in Shela. Most of these new projects are poised to rise to between 118m and 120m. Between June and September last year, three buildings of 92.4m were given approval on Sabarmati riverfront.
“There are multiple towers in these projects. A few design changes were proposed since January this year in two projects, while the third is being examined. The trend for tall buildings is gaining momentum in western Ahmedabad,” said a senior AMC official.
Under general development control regulations (DCR), maximum limit of any building was 45m, since the 2001 earthquake. It was then raised to 70m — which translates to 22 or 23 floors — by 2017. There are currently 47 buildings that have been approved for height of over 45m in the city, some of which are coming up in eastern Ahmedabad as well.
The new policy for tall buildings allows builders to go higher, provided a road at least 30m wide is adjacent to the plot. The developer also has to procure an NOC from the civil aviation ministry or Airports Authority of India.
Sources in AMC said skyscrapers can come up in zones that have permitted Floor Space Index (FSI) of more than 1.2. The new policy allows an FSI of 5.4 but the developer will have to pay for FSI over 1.2 at 50% of thejantri value (revenue ready reckoner rates) for non-agricultural land. The tall buildings panel was to review building design and run simulation studies on horizontal load — how building would act during an earthquake — and wind load.
“The proposals after being cleared at AMC are placed before the three-member tall buildings expert panel. At any point in time the committee raises anywhere between 20 to 30 queries, indicating that scrutiny is stringent,” said the official, adding that an advantage of tall residential complexes is comparatively more space. “At such heights, three and four BHK apartments of 3,500 sq ft, 4,500 sq ft, and 5,500 sq ft carpet area become feasible,” he said.
