Team TOI

Ahmedabad: It was just a six mile long fortwall on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati in the 15 century. Six hundred years later, Ahmedabad had broken away from the shackles of the sultans and the seths to cover over 400 square kilometres, stretching far into the western bank of the Sabarmati, adding people and places. From a highly labour-driven economy and infrastructure centred around textile mills, Ahmedabad Next is bustling with new energy.

Its population at an estimated 5.5 million today is seen as an immense resource for the city’s future growth which could go well beyond 10 million by the time the next census is carried out in 2011.

Often, doubts creep on whether the city is actually planning for its own growth. Or, like Bangalore, it would eventually get crushed under its own weight.

When one sees under-passes being built, instead of flyovers, the impression goes out that the vision of those who are planning the city is rather myopic. Even Surat is thinking much ahead.

We don’t want the traffic jams of Mumbai to travel to Ahmedabad in the next few years. We don’t want flooding in the city, again like Mumbai, because buildings have come up in areas which were waterways. We are looking for proper infrastructure so that Ahmedabad emerges as a happening place where all the action is. Where wealth creation leads to job creation and the people who live here enjoy their stay in a city which is known for its hospitality, perseverance, enterprise and ability to assimilate people from not just India but the whole world.

Projects like the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad metro rail, Sabarmati riverfront and Bus Rapid Transit System are poised to become landmark projects for the country. The Times of India finds out how ‘mega-city’ Ahmedabad is trying to ride the boom and make this ride less bumpy for the neversay-die Amdavadis. Join us on www.ahmedabadnext.com to help reinvent Ahmedabad.