City of lakes

Amdavadis will soon be able to stop cribbing about the lack of recreational places in the city. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has come up with a Raam baan idea: More lakes. Not just one, two or 10 — 34 new lakes will dot the cityscape in a few years. And most of it will be modelled on the Kankaria lakefront.

The sight of Amdavadis thronging the Vastrapur and the Kankaria lakes encouraged the AMC to come up with this plan. It has already implemented the plan in Bapunagar, Asarwa and Baug-e-Firdaus. And, it has proposed to create lakes at Saijpur and Lambha. The remaining 29 lakes have been sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Recreational spots

Standing committee chairman Asit Vora said, “The rush at Vastrapur and Kankaria lakes on holidays is unbelievable. We decided to plan a lake in every ward. This will increase the number of recreational spots, reduce the rush and help people enjoy themselves more. The five new lakes will have landscaped gardens, walkways, children’s park and snack parlours.”

He added, “The projects are part of AMC’s effort to create and preserve waterbodies in the city. The lakes will have inlets to recharge the groundwater table. As rainwater will flow into the lakes, it will solve the problem of waterlogging. Several trees will be planted here. This will green up the area and bring down the temperature. The city will become more beautiful.”


Developing environment

AMC chief I P Gautam said, “The lakes will help develop the micro environment. Trees planted at the lake will clean up the air in its one-kilometre radius. These spots will develop as a parallel eco-system. Most of the lakes had dried up. The lake beds were choked. Dregging the bottom will not only help groundwater to percolate easily, it will also increase the lake’s water-holding capacity. This helps in recharging the groundwater table successfully.”

Under construction

“The Lal Bahadur Shastri lake in Bapunagar is coming up on an area of 1.36 lakh sq metres. The 15-m deep lake will have water capacity of 83.2 crore litres. Currently, the bottom of the lake is being levelled. Just the earthwork will cost about Rs 4.25 crore,” said an AMC official.

Spread on an area of 68,000 sq m, the lake in Asarwa will be ready by December. It will cost the AMC Rs 11 crores. The AMC spent Rs 70 lakh on the lake in Baug-e-Firdaus. The construction will be over soon.

The lake in Lambha will be built for Rs 30 lakh. The Saijpur lake in the planning stage. It will be constructed on 41,700 sq metre and the estimated expenditure is Rs 12.12 crore.

Lakes under JNNURM

Meanwhile, the AMC and the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) will develop 29 lakes under JNNURM. They will build lakes in Gota, Ambli, Prahladnagar, Makarba, Motera, Chandkheda, Chharodi , Chenpur, Ognaj, Hebatpur, Shilaj, Mohmadpura, Okaf, Sarkhej, Tragad, Jagatpur, Nikol, Vastral, Ramol, Hanspur and TP no 63 61/2 . Two lakes will come up in Sola, Thaltej, Bodakdev and Khoraj.

Name	Area in sq m	Name	Area in sq m
Gota	50,771	Chenpur	24,083
Sola	41 11,187	Ognaj	56,262
Sola	43 69,375	Hebatpur	36,630
Thaltej	22,745	Shilaj	1,81,806
(Swastik School)
Thaltej	144/2 44,137	Mohmadpura	10,345
Bodakdev 26	9,479	Okaf	51,327
Bodakdev-FP- 202	20,906	Sarkhej	27,297
Ambli	20,835	Tragad	34,195
Prahladnagar	23,099	Khoraj (highway)	45,080
Makarba	1,04,099	Jagatpur	52,355
Motera	20,746	TP63 61/2	66,416
Chandkheda	45,055	Nikol-103	30,192
Khoraj village	69,051	Vastral	53,709
Chharodi	42,439	Ramol	99,897
Hanspur	11,619