Bhadra Fort to be restored as Bhadra Fort Plaza
Bhadra Fort restoration work which was to kickstart from January 26 has been delayed for couple of days to expand the scope and scale of the restoration plans. The restoration plans have been extended to envelop areas of Bhadra Fort to Teen Darwaja and main AMTS bus depot to river front.
The Bhadra Fort restoration work would now begin next week. Professor Utpal Sharma, dean, faculty of planning and public policy, CEPT University, and main in-charge handling the Bhardra Fort restoration project said, “Bhadra Fort would be restored as a main entry point to the walled city. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) researchers, CEPT experts and AMC Heritage Cell are jointly working for restoring this live monument.”
Sharma informed that entire Bhadra Fort would be transformed into a mega tourist information centre. The significant details of history of Ahmedabad city would be displayed on various installations in and around the Fort. All the heritage walks would begin and end at this Plaza.
“The minute structures and historically referential elements including caved-in passage (gokhalo) of Laxmi no divo, shrine of Kotwal Ahmed Basheer would be revitalised and are finely incorporated into the new design,” added Sharma.
In first phase, the paving of the area would start within next few days. Later with the help of ASI the restoration of teen darwaja and Bhadra Fort would begin. In the third phase, the newly designed wide car-park and a foot bridge connecting the parking place with Bhadra Fort and River Front would come up.
To de-escalate the menace of vehicular congestion in these areas of the walled city and to provide parking place to tourists and visitors, the main AMTS bus depot would be replaced by a six-floored 30,000 sq meter parking place.
Bus services would be conducted from this multi-level parking place. With a multi layer structure, the parking would have capacity to accommodate more than 500 cars.
With this, under the proposed restoration plan, a new foot bridge connecting the parking with the River Front and Bhadra Fort would be built. “The bridge and parking will be of modern architecture and design. However, the finishing touch of heritage aesthetics and vintage street furniture will evenly intersperse these structures with other the heritage structures of the walled city,” added Sharma.
Focal points of the restoration plans
• CEPT experts, AMC Heritage Cell and ASI jointly work on the project
• Main AMTS Bus depot to be converted into six-floored car park
• A new foot bridge connecting new parking, Bhadra Plaza and River Fort to come up
