Ahmedabad: Unesco’s World Heritage Committee (WHC) has expressed serious concern over two major construction projects within Ahmedabad’s World Heritage City, stating that they were completed despite expert warnings and without following mandatory heritage assessment procedures, potentially threatening the city’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).The observations were made during Unesco’s 48th World Heritage Committee session held in Busan, South Korea, from July 19 to 29, where the findings of a Joint Reactive Monitoring Mission that visited Ahmedabad in March were reviewed.
Ahmedabad Heritage Lapses
According to the committee, the Danapith fire station and its multi-level parking facility were completed before a comprehensive Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) was carried out. A 2023 technical review had already warned that the project “should not proceed” as it would have a “clear, direct and lasting negative impact” on the city’s OUV. However, construction continued.The committee also criticised the redevelopment of the Kalupur railway precinct, which was earlier identified as a potential threat because of its location within Ahmedabad’s World Heritage buffer zone. Inspectors found that the buildings were substantially complete by early 2025, while India’s interim Heritage Impact Assessment, submitted in Jan, neither acknowledged the completed structures nor evaluated their actual impact on the heritage site.Expressing deep regret over both cases, Unesco said the projects highlighted a systemic flaw in Ahmedabad’s planning regulations. It pointed to Clause 7.3 of the Comprehensive General Development Control Regulations (CGDCR), 2017, under which permissible building heights were determined solely by road width and plot size, without considering heritage protection.The committee asked India to amend the provision so that development within the World Heritage property safeguards its historic urban fabric. It specifically recommended limiting building heights within the heritage property to a maximum of 15 metres.For the completed projects, Unesco called for mitigation measures, including extensive tree plantation and landscaping, improved public space design, pedestrian connectivity to the heritage core with interpretation facilities, and urgent conservation measures for associated historic minar sites.The committee also directed authorities to submit revised heritage conservation, heritage management and tourism management plans to the World Heritage Centre. A comprehensive State of Conservation report has been sought by Dec 1, 2027.Despite its concerns, Unesco welcomed several conservation initiatives undertaken in Ahmedabad. It appreciated the continued documentation and GIS mapping of historic pol houses, routine conservation work at Bhadra Fort by the Archaeological Survey of India’s, plans to convert Sardar Patel Bhavan into a museum and interpretation centre, and efforts to sensitise the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation on heritage protection during the planning of a proposed bus stop project.
