CWG 2030 focus & no tax hikes: Ahmedabad civic body proposes Rs 17,000 crore draft budget – highest ever

“This is a participatory budget as suggestions, recommendations and issues raised by citizens, which were received through more than 700 emails and 2,600 letters, have been taken into account. This is the first draft budget that has taken into account planning for the centenary Commonwealth Games 2030,” he said.

Gaps in basic facilities such as roads, water, sewage, storm water and health have been identified in the budget, he said, adding that measures are suggested to fill these gaps.

10 stormwater networks, wire-free city

Ten new stormwater networks worth Rs 453 crore have been proposed to make Ahmedabad a ‘flood-proof city’. Further, to prepare a masterplan to make Ahmedabad flood-proof, an allocation of Rs 200 crore has been proposed. Under this, initiatives such as creation of a flood risk management and monitoring modelling with sensors, lake rejuvenation and recharging, interlinking of lakes and another biodiversity park on Sabarmati Riverfront have been proposed.

As different agencies are laying cable lines such as optical fibre cable, electric power company and internet service providers on different roads across the city across the year by digging the roads, the AMC has proposed to install underground utility ducts at all the new roads of 36 meters or more width, and paving of the unpaved roads.

In order to develop pedestrian-friendly roads, a pedestrian cell will be set up under the road design cell to form a new policy. Under it, about 200 km long roads will be constructed in different zones for which Rs 50 crore has been proposed.

Under ‘Road for Better City Logistics’, the ring road, highway and other major roads surrounding the city will be widened. An elevated corridor from Nehrunagar to Shivranjani till Ramdevnagar junction to Iskcon bridge and another from Bopal Ghuma SP Ring Road to Ghuma were proposed.

Three flyovers each at Memo junction, Bhakti Circle Kathrada junction and Silver Star junction have also been proposed. An underpass connecting Sabarmati Riverfront to Cantonment premises to Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport circle has been proposed with a budget of Rs 30 crore.

To address the increasing traffic chaos, Rs 899 crore has been proposed for implementing Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS).

Water metro on lines of Kochi

With the help from the Kochi Water Metro by the Inland Waterways Authority, feasibility of a water metro will be studied for which Rs 1 crore has been proposed. Work order has been allotted and feasibility report is expected within 1-2 months. Based on the report, work for the consultancy will be undertaken.

For creation of AI Urban Observatory, Rs 50 crore has been proposed. The Urban Observatory initiative was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Under Urban Observatory, data sets of different departments are collected and analysed and useful intelligence is developed from this analysis. Using this, action is taken to improve urban services, streamline planning and provide more convenience to citizens.

It will be used for 12 different use cases such as drainage, water, health, climate resilience solution, smart waste management, mobility planning, integrated air quality and health monitoring system, AI and GIS based city business atlas, dynamic advertisement, among others.

Also, 30 roads will be developed under the thematic road beautification project worth Rs 130 crore.

SG highway will be developed at a cost of Rs 600 crore from Ujala Circle to Vaishnodevi Circle.

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

Climate Responsive Urban Infrastructure Development

Smart Water Management System: Rs 80 cr

Flood Proof City: Rs.472.71 Cr

Nature-based solutions and blue-green infrastructure (parks, gardens, 5 million trees, water bodies etc) – Rs.403.82 crore

Zero waste city – Rs.289.40 Cr