Ahmedabad: A Unesco team told AMC that the safety of the city’s heritage crown depended on the redesign of the facade of the Danapith fire-station-cum-multilevel-parking facility, among other factors. The civic body has heeded Unesco’s suggestion.A proposal to modify the facade will be tabled in the Roads and Buildings Committee meeting on Oct 21. The modification is expected to raise the project cost. A proposal to extend the completion deadline to Nov 15 has already been submitted for approval.In 2020, AMC demolished Danapith fire station to implement the fire-station-cum-multilevel-parking project. Construction began in 2022, but the building remains incomplete four years on.The Unesco team visited Ahmedabad in March and reviewed Kalupur Railway Station, Danapith Fire-Station-cum-Multilevel-Parking, and Gita Mandir ST Bus Station projects.An AMC source stated, “A two-member Unesco team evaluated the impact on heritage of the Kalupur Railway Station Development Project and the Danapith Multilevel Parking Project, both located in the buffer zone of the Old City’s heritage area.”The source added, “For the past six years, the Danapith project has been embroiled in controversy for various reasons, including changes in the building design, repeated tender revisions, and execution delays.”The Unesco team suggested alterations to the building’s facade design, incorporating green-coloured elements, the source said.Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) granted an NOC for the Danapith project. But ASI restricted the building’s height: AMC was aiming for 21 metres; ASI approved 18 metres. As a result, AMC had to alter the project design.The reduced height shrank parking capacity by over 100 cars. The central agency reduced the height because the site falls within a 200-to-300-metre radius of heritage properties in the Old City area.Initially, when AMC announced the demolition of the Danapith fire station, the plan included constructing a pedestrian bridge connecting the new fire-station-cum-multilevel-parking facility directly to AMC headquarters.This would have allowed visitors to park their cars or two-wheelers in the multilevel facility and walk directly to the AMC offices. However, AMC has not constructed the pedestrian bridge.
