Ahmedabad: With the Commonwealth Games 2030 baton in hand, Ahmedabad has begun the countdown to host the games’ centenary edition in October 2030. The countdown has also begun for developing games infrastructure. A study by Cept University students gives a roadmap for developing such infrastructure and how it can be used after the games wrap up.The study, ‘Enabling Hospitality, Tourism, and Mobility Infrastructure for CWG in Ahmedabad’, by Master’s in Urban Housing (MUH) course students Pragathi Manjunath and Harsh Shah elaborated upon the existing and required infrastructure. The study was guided by faculty members Sejal Patel and Amruta Patel along with teaching assistant Vidhi Mehta.Prof Sejal Patel said that while city-wide infrastructure planning is underway, hospitality too will require attention. “We will need policies to make it easier and attractive to develop hotels and hospitality infrastructure through financing, tax incentives and planning measures,” she said.According to the study, sporting events should be planned as an urban development strategy. It suggests five zones for development requirements: the Stadium-Motera corridor, SG Highway-Prahladnagar, GIFT City expansion, Dholera SIR Phase II, and heritage Walled City.For financial modelling, Manjunath and Shah took inspiration from around the world. While Singapore provides a good model for hospitality trusts, Dubai presents a sustainable model for 30% land appreciation tax near venue corridors and revenue pooled into a games infrastructure fund. The study also suggests PPP financing like what Tokyo did for the 2020 Olympics.After the games, the added infrastructure can be used for educational housing for the Knowledge Corridor near Gandhinagar which has a high concentration of premier educational institutes. It can also be rented out as housing by both private players and aggregators, the study suggests.“Ahmedabad’s legacy strategy must rest on four pillars: multi-functional venues for year-round use, modular design to reduce post-games scale and costs, strong urban integration with active city nodes, and smart asset management to minimise operational burdens. Long-term success depends on aligning institutional oversight with revenue-generating frameworks ensuring these assets become self-sustaining drivers of broader urban prosperity,” said the researchers.
