R ARIVANANTHAM
GANDHINAGAR, FEB 28
As India is emerging as one of the top five economic superpowers and marching towards $10 trillion economy, visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paved the way for setting up a World Class Finance and IT Zone in India. This zone Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City strategically located between the Financial Capital Ahmadabad and Political Capital Gandhinagar boasts of many firsts and above par with globally benchmarked financial centres is one of the first planned and operational smart cities in India established by the Government of Gujarat, said a top official.
- GIFT City was also recognized as a model for Greenfield development of smart cities by the Government of India in its mission statement and guidelines of smart cities in the year 2015.
- District Cooling System helps in minimizing CO2 emission
- It is a self-contained town with excellent infrastructures
GIFT City was also recognized as a model for Greenfield development of smart cities by the Government of India in its mission statement and guidelines of smart cities in the year 2015.
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The state-of-the-art designs in respect of automated waste collection, providing uninterrupted power/water supply, a common energy efficient and sustainable district cooling system which paves aesthetic look of office/residential buildings and save energy considerably and taking all utility pipes except cooking gas and data/power cables in a dedicated tunnel to make the city as ‘Digging Free City’, the official explained.
Nisarg Acharya, spokesperson of GIFT City told the visiting Tamil Nadu journalists, “The GIFT City has unique features of integrated urban development with walk-to-work concept to fulfill the long-term vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create a World Class Finance and IT Zone for India to cater to the needs of not only to India but to the entire world.”
The GIFT City situated on the banks of the Sabarmati River over 860 acres of ravine land has been developed as Digging Free City with many new features such as:
Automated Waste Collection System creates wealth from waste
There is no manual collection of dry waste within the city. As the entire collection of waste were automated by providing dedicated pipelines – one for bio degradable waste dumping and another one for plastic waste in all the buildings, including residential. The wastes dumped in the pipes were sucked through a chute system from the centralized waste collection centre at a speed of 90 km/hr as soon as the centralized system notifies the overflowing of the concerned waste pipes. The collected bio degradable waste is converted as manure through plasma technology and the plastic wastes were handed over to vendors for recycling.
Thus, the entire operations of waste collection and disposals are being done with minimum human interventions, he said.
District Cooling System helps in minimizing CO2 emission
With a view to minimize CO2 emission and maintain aesthetic view of the buildings, the GIFT city provides energy efficient and sustainable air-conditioning system to the offices, residential/educational and commercial buildings through the common District Cooling System. The DCS also reduces Global Warming Potential, Heat Island effect, lower the operation and maintenance cost etc.
Providing this centralized cooling system can conserve 30% energy compared to the conventional air-conditioning system such as Window AC/Split AC, the official said.
The total planned district cooling capacity was 1,89,000 TR and the first phase of the DCS is operational from March 2015.
With this state-of-the-art technology, Series Counter Flow Chillers with Thermal Storage Tank. Chilled water distribution pipeline network is maintained through underground Utility Tunnel. Energy metering is controlled through the SCADA, Nisarg added.
With Utility Tunnel, ‘Digging Free City’ offers smooth rides
In respect to vast infrastructure systems, GIFT City developed the vision of “DIGGING FREE CITY” by placing all the utilities in a TUNNEL across the city so that there is no need to excavate the roads in future for repair/maintenance/renovation/upgradation of any utility. The provisions are made in the tunnel for smooth access, separation of utilities, proper drainage, lighting, and other long-term concerns, such as maintenance and security.
The Utility Tunnel will accommodate all the utilities, including Power Cables, Raw Water supply pipe line to Water Treatment Plant (WTP) as well as treated water supply pipe line from WTP to various developments, chilled water supply from District Cooling Pipe (DCP) to various developments and return pipe line to DCP, ICT cables, Automated Waste Collection pipe line, Fire hydrant water pipe line, etc.
To ensure safety, separate sections created for WET and DRY pipelines
With a view to ensure safety, the tunnel is divided into WET and DRY sections which are physically separated with each other. Wet section is carrying utilities related to water, ICT and others while dry section carries power cables and have access from top. The wet section has been designed in such a manner that material handling can be done efficiently and maintenance trolley may be used for material movement.
Total length of the Tunnel within GIFT City shall be approximately 16 Km and shall be provided with Ventilation system, Rodent Repellent System and Fire & Smoke Detection System for the purpose of safety. The size of the Tunnel shall vary depending on the number and size of the Utilities and may go up to as large as 8 M wide X 11M deep, the spokesperson added.
The city has the best hospitality and educational facilities making it more attractive for MNCs to set up shops. In a nutshell, it is a self-contained town with excellent infrastructures.
City command and control centre
Entire infrastructure facility management is governed City Command and Control Centre on 24/7 basis.
(The Press Information Bureau has arranged the Tamil Nadu media visit of Gujarat)
