PM's three pet projects in Guj too get fillip

Gujarat gets fillip under the new central government for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet projects like Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail, GIFT City and world's tallest statue project - 'Statue of Unity' - at 182-metres of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

While GIFT City has achieved financial closure with two more towers and command centers for smart city operations likely to be completed soon, the metro rail recently got a nod from the Centre, both along with Statue of Unity being PM Modi's brainchild.

What's more, despite initial hiccups and delays in projects like GIFT City and metro rail, with PM Modi at the Centre, these projects, say respective officials, are now set to be on fast track.

For instance, it was one of the first metro projects in the new millennium be mooted in as early as 2003 but the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail project only saw a special purpose vehicle Metro-link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company Ltd being formed in 2010. Since then, the SPV saw some overhaul in management control and revised route alignment even as JICA extended a loan of Rs 6000 crore for the total revised project cost of Rs 10773 crore. However, after almost five years wait, recently on October 18 the central government, led by PM Modi, finally gave its consent for the project.

"The Government of India recently approved the metro rail project in Gujarat and the project is now on fast track," said IP Gautam, vice chairman and managing director of MEGA Company Ltd. The company has already issued tenders for detailed design consultancy services for the 13 stations post approval, even as officials state the project will see an expedited commissioning now that the new government has also earmarked Rs 60 crore while the rest of Rs 1500-1600 crore is likely to be announced in 2-3 months.

Similarly, PM Modi's another ambitious pet project GIFT City was conceptualised in 2007 but the joint venture between Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited (GUDCOL) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) resulting in 'Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited' (GIFTCL) only got set up in 2009. Moreover, the land transfer took another two years delay in 2011 which led to revision of the first phase of 10 million sq ft worth development and sale from 2014 to now 2016.

Yet, today, RK Jha, director of GIFTCL states with the new government reviving the economy, the project, especially India's first globally benchmarked International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City is witnessing a renewed interest in the BFSI and IT sectors. In fact, not only did the project achieve financial closure for its first phase of infrastructure development for Rs 1157 crore in June this year, but also sold 12 million sq ft worth space as against the targeted 10 million sq ft in phase one for Rs 900 crore.

GIFT City is also well on its way to become one of the first smart cities of India, what with control command centres already being set up for managing utilities through Information Technology (IT).

To develop and implement the project, Government of Gujarat (GOG) through its undertaking

While the estimated cost of various infrastructure in phase one is around Rs 1818 crore, the financial closure for Rs 1157 crore has been achieved by debt through a consortium of banks including Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab & Sindh Bank and Corporation Bank.

On the other hand, it is the much touted tallest statue in the world 'Statue of Unity' of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel which is set to come up in Kevadia of Narmada district that has caught the fancy of the country. Recently, the Gujarat government issued work order of Rs 2,979 crore to one of India's largest engineering firm, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for the project, wherein Turner Construction, which built the world's tallest skyscraper Burj Khalifa in Dubai, will act as consultant. Of the total contract of Rs 2,979 crore, Rs 1,347 crore would be used for building the statue, Rs 235 crore for constructing the exhibition centre and convention centre, Rs 134 crore for research and development centres and Rs 83 crore for building the bridge connecting memorial with the mainland.