Ahmedabad: Auda identifies 9.5 lakh square meter land at Bhat village for olympic district

AHMEDABAD: As part of the state government's ambitious project to create sports facilities in and around Ahmedabad for hosting 2036 Olympics, Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) has identified 9.5 lakh sq meter land in two town planning schemes at Bhat village.
The land identified in TP scheme 238 and 80 belongs to various government institutions such as Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd (SSNL) and department of forests. Authorities plan to build an Olympic District on this land that will comprise infrastructure such as sports facilities, living quarters for sportspersons and hotels meant for spectators.
Auda is also in the process of setting up an Olympics Village and a sports training facilities on 200-acre land at Manipur-Godhavi near Bopal. The state government also has planned a Sardar Patel Sports Enclave on 236 acre land in the periphery of Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium.
Sources said that Auda had hired PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to identify land that can be used to create facilities for the Olympics. The firm in its report surveyed the already existing sports facilities in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar to find whether they are fit for hosting Olympic games or not. The firm also identified land which can be made available for setting up infrastructure for Olympics. Based on the report Auda has identified 9.5 lakh sq meter land.
Sources said that officials of Olympic Cell of Auda are already in talks with these government departments for acquiring this land. Auda is also in the process of accumulating deducted land in these two town planning schemes that can be made available for setting up the Olympics District.
A year ago, Auda had stopped leasing or selling government land in 10 villages including Bhat, Sughad, Motera, Koteshwar and others. Auda has also informed this to Ahmedabad district collector to not to process any land transfer that involves government land. During the same time, SSNL had acquired land near Bhat for Narmada canal work. However, the acquired land remains unused as the canal plan was changed later. Sources said that GIDC and SSNL together have 7.5 lakh sq meter land in these two TP schemes. Along with this land the plots reserved for recreational purposes and the land deduction from these TP schemes will be allocated for Olympic District.