The next major step towards construction of the GIFT has been passed! After winning state and local approval, federal approval and clearances and SEZ status of the project has finally been given!
Even cooler, already 40 million sq ft of this project has been booked. To put it in other terms, that's nearly the entire first two phases of construction. As the GIFTCL chairman puts it, over half the investment into GIFT is "in the bag" even before the project even breaks ground.
The 400m Diamond Tower and the 310m Twin towers, among other 200+ towers, are all going up in the first phase, so that means bookings for Diamond Tower and the others, as was reported earlier, are indeed completely full and construction is a certainty! Construction for this first phase will commence after the monsoons later this year and will be done in less than three years.
Props to Indiansunite for posting the articles
-Jai
Gujarat's GIFT zips into SEZ street
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12 Jan 2008, 0246 hrs IST,TNN
GANDHINAGAR: Ahmedabad’s aggressive claim as a global financial hub, streets ahead of Mumbai and rivalled only by the best in the world like Manhattan, Shanghai, London and Singapore, got a sizzling punch with the Centre finally clearing a special economic zone (SEZ) status for the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT).
The clearance paves the way for developing 250 acres out of the total 500-acre GIFT project as an SEZ with a possible International Finance Service Centre status that would make it one of its kind project in the country.
The project will of course add a sizzling global touch to Ahmedabad’s skyline with its glitzy skyscrapers, including a 400-metre tall diamond faceted steel and glass Diamond Tower. After all, it is being designed by the Shanghai-based East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co Ltd that has designed Shanghai’s Pearl Tower.
More importantly, GIFT will alter the contours of India’s financial skyline as well by setting towering global benchmarks in investments, exports and job creation. The multi-services SEZ, which is slated to bring in investments of over Rs 15,000 crore, is targeting exports worth $1 billion in the first three years beginning 2010, when the first phase of the project will become operational.
Exports are slated to zoom to $2 billion per annum by the fifth year and to $3 billion by 2020. These figures could shoot through the roof if the project bags an IFSC status. On the job front, GIFT is targeting nearly 1 million jobs by 2020, including a direct employment of 4 lakh.
The project that promises to catapult Ahmedabad into the global big league is being developed by the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd, a joint venture between the state-run Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) and Infrastructure Lease and Financial Services (IL&FS).
And apart from the IFSC, the SEZ portion of GIFT will house an international techno park, STPI technology units, international market zone, stock exchanges and services units, international education zone, integrated townships, entertainment zone, hotels and convention centre and shopping malls.
And so excited has the project got global and domestic finance biggies as well as realtors that even before it has got off the ground, 13 memoranda of understanding have already been inked with nearly 40 million sq ft space being booked.
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SEZzling GIFT: India’s next global fin hub
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source: Times of India Epaper, Ahmedabad, 12 Jan, 2007
Gandhinagar: In the new year its finally time for Gujarat to uncork the bubbly. For come 2010, it won’t be Mumbai, but finance savvy Gujarat that will house India’s most world class International Finance Services Centre.
All thanks to the upcoming Gujarat International Finance Tec-City project that has now bagged an SEZ status. The project, designed to compete with Mumbai and woo global and domestic financial services players along with the IT/ITES sector to Gujarat’s shores, is slated to see the first phase being completed in Gujarat’s golden jubilee year 2010.
To be located at Shahpur village between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, abutting National Highway No 8A on the banks of the river Sabarmati, GIFT is proposed to be spread over 500 acres, offering a total built space of 75 million sq feet.
While the crown jewel will be the 400 metre tall diamond tower, GIFT will have a total of 11 buildings of over 150 metres tall and a total of 319 high-rise buildings.
Sniffing a global opportunity coming their way at nearly throwaway realty prices as compared to next door neighbour Mumbai, Indian finance giants like Kotak Mahindra have already signed up space for its financial services hub at GIFT.
Speaking to TOI after a high level presentation made to chief minister Narendra Modi on Friday, GIFTCL chairman Sudhir Mankad, said of the 75 million square feet of built-up area that GIFT proposes to set up, investment for nearly 40 million sq ft has already been lined up.
“Of the Rs 30,000 crore worth of investment expected in GIFT, more than half is in the bag,” an elated Mankad said. As the SEZ approval letter, not made public due to the recent polls, has just come in, he was unsure about which investors, who have signed up, would like to switch over to SEZ area.
“We expect external road connectivity leading up to GIFT to be provided within the next two months with work already in progress. Work on internal infrastructure like roads, drainage, drinking water, horticulture, parking facilities will begin in June. We expect private developers to start construction soon after monsoon after they get the requisite,” said Mankad.
While 60 per cent of GIFT will have office space for financial services, rest of it might go for knowledge-based industry, cultural and educational activities. The residential complex will cover around 12 per cent of the built-up space, where housing blocks, including independent bungalows and flats, will be built for about 50,000 people.
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