Riverfronts command the highest returns on investment: Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corp Chairman

"We are developing the Jhelum water front… Srinagar city may become the model for city renewal for the country," said Keshav Verma, Chairman, Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation. (Representative Image)

Riverfronts command the highest returns on investment as all central business districts are located along river banks, said Keshav Verma, Chairman, Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation at News18's Rising India Summit held in the Capital on March 30.

Asked why India has not been able to develop its riverfronts considering that they are big commercial districts and also prime real estate, Verma said that the challenge is to do with the long-term nature of these projects.

“The problem has been that of political will. These are long-term projects and take about 10 to 12 years. I head the high-level committee on urban planning for the government and one of the recommendations is to take 25 cities which are on the riverfront and develop them. If you look all across the world, the highest amount of return on investment is on riverfronts. All Central Business Districts are on the riverfront. Yet we haven’t really thought about how to do this,” he said.

Srinagar city development

He also said that Srinagar city may become the model for city renewal for the country.

“In Srinagar we are doing 80 km of footpaths. There has to be pedestrian security and safety. We are developing the Jhelum water front… Srinagar city may become the model for city renewal for the country. We are not only doing the Jhelum riverfront but we are also restoring the built heritage on the riverfront. This is the first time we have shown the political will and professional integrity to plan and renew Lal Chowk in Srinagar,” he told the audience.

He pointed out that to enjoy a city like Srinagar it is best to “stroll through the city and enjoy the beauty of nature around rather than zipping past it,” adding Srinagar now has traffic jams. “We will now have to think differently while planning it.”

On the Sabarmati waterfront, Verma said, “It is not a perennial but a monsoon-fed river that often becomes a pond. Keeping it clean is a big challenge. When I took over as chairman it had zero percent oxygen and now it has 8 percent and much better quality of water. About 120 species of birds have come back to the Sabarmati waterfront. It is a miracle of political tenacity and vision. As many as 13,000 families were rehabilitated in a manner in which everyone felt that it has brought value to them and reduced their vulnerability,” he said.

Taking the discussion on river fronts forward, Dikshu C Kukreja, Managing Principal Architect, CP Kukreja Architects, said that rivers can become the spine of the city rather than its backyard, and for that, you need integrated riverfront development.

Rivers don’t look at political boundaries, he said, adding, “Different rivers pass through several states, it is a continuous feature, unlike a lake. An integrated approach is required here. If you have one part of the river that is looked after and start discharging waste into the other segment, you cannot have a clean river.”

“There are policies coming in where you are not only looking at riverfront developments but also looking at rivers as modes of transport with inland waterways, etc. But I feel that a river is one feature in a city which can become the spine of the city rather than its backyard, and for that you need integrated riverfront development. But you also need an integrated water management policy towards that river,” Kukreja said.

Ayodhya town planning

Delhi-based CP Kukreja Architects, Canada-based Lea Associates and L&T have been tasked with planning the master blueprint for the temple town of Ayodhya. The three firms are chalking out the town planning, transport, traffic, infrastructure, finance, economy, heritage, tourism, urban design, and renewable resources.

Talking about it, Kukreja said, “It has been a joint effort with the consortium. With rising India and urban renewal, Ayodhya City has a deep significance not just across India but all over the world and transformation that is taking place there has been about being able to retain identity, its sanctity, its historical and cultural significance and building on it …”

Whether it is developing the Saryu riverfront or whether it is about infrastructure such as modern airports and railway stations or reviving old towns, “we need to preserve our heritage but we also need to strengthen it. We don’t want buildings to start falling apart.”

He also said that urban renewal in the last four to five decades has all been about being inspired by the West. “We look at what western cities have done – whether it is the fascination with the car, therefore, we keep creating highways running through the cities and lots of roads – we are projecting a very western phenomenon. It is a 20th-century notion. Today what we should be looking at is where the West has succeeded and failed. We should have highways but we should also look at new technology like hyperloop and connect them between cities. There are a lot of 21st-century innovations that need to come in.”

On planning a city like Ayodhya, Kukreja said the focus has been on creating a modern city with a historical character.

“Planning there has ensured that while we insert elements of infrastructure which a modern city requires – for example, a railway station or an airport, it is a necessity today. You can go two ways about it – you can either create glass and steel buildings and put them in the middle of Ayodhya and say this is a modern intervention, or create a modern state-of-the-art building but give it the ethos of historical architecture. That’s exactly what we are trying to do,” he said.