Behind the political wing’s desperation to get the 24-metre Hansol road passed in the standing committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) over the last two months, are the civic body’s mega plans to extend the Sabarmati riverfront right to Gandhinagar. The 24-metre road, once passed, will lead to the building of a weir-cum-bridge across the river, connecting the western bank to the airport. An extended riverfront because of the weir will mean more real estate, extending 9.6 km towards Gandhinagar. In a recent proposal, submitted by an investor looking to install a `London Eye’ like observation wheel called the `Charkha’, near Sardar Bridge the existing real estate market rates on the riverfront was quoted as Rs 1.06 lakh per square metre.

The alignment of the proposed 24 m road passing uncomfortably close to an army ammunition dump was required to build a weir-cum-bridge across the Sabarmati. “It is only this alignment of the bridge-cum-weir that will block the water and cause the structure to be stable. The Army is yet to give its approval on that front,“ says a senior AMC official.He added that an international convention centre was initially planned beside the SP Ring Road bridge, the official said. The capacity of the existing Sabarmati riverfront was between 65 lakhs and 72 lakhs cubic metres. “By building the Hansol bridge-cum-weir, the present riverfront capacity can be replicated beyond the Indira Bridge. Besides this, the weir can also help store water for 15 days for the city , added the official.“The Hansol bridge should combine the weir or we could make a separate weir near Torrent power plant. The weir near the Bhat railway bridge will hold water up to an average of 4.6 metres as does Vasna barrage,“ adds the AMC official. Earlier, a Rs 10 crore budget was earmarked in 2008-09 for conducting feasibility studies for the extended riverfront, but was put on the backburner as the Army had raised security issues.