AHMEDABAD: The city has three modes of public transport — AMTS buses, the BRTS bus network and the metro. According to a study carried out by CEPT University, out of 452 sq km area of the city, about 22% or 54 sq km can be considered transport-oriented zone (TOZ) with connectivity to BRTS or metro.
However, unlike several Indian and international cities that have been developed around transit corridors, Ahmedabad has not been able to capitalize on these corridors, claimed the study.
The study indicated that about 11.6 sq km or 22% of the TOZ is currently under development. Out of total, the share of redevelopment is only 27% or 4.3 sq km.
A senior faculty member associated with the project said that due to lack of policy and incentives, the city centre such as Ashram Road is slowly turning ‘dead’ with fewer redevelopment projects. “The new development is now taking place on SG Road and beyond. The reason is that developers have land pockets acquired much earlier. It is easier to develop vacant plots compared to redeveloping existing structures and taking into account nearby buildings and other factors,” said the faculty, underlining the need for incentives to revitalize existing business hubs.
Another factor is relatively low use of public transport. The study stated there was not much difference between TOZ and non-transport-oriented zones (nTOZ).
Compared to a mean population of 297 persons per block in TOZs, it was 333 in nTOZ. However, the picture changes when job density is studied – the TOZ gave double the jobs per sq km (11,276) compared to nTOZ (5,471).
