Ahmedabad, November 27: FIRST was the Sabarmati river front project. Now comes the Kankaria lake front development project, the foundation of which was laid by Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening. The idea here, however, doesn’t appear to be malls and shops. The idea, according to Modi, is to make the lake and its periphery an ideal, must-visit destination for tourists. So the Rs 28.50-crore project, to be complete in a year’s time, includes development of its four-km long periphery. At present the road surrounding the lake is used for vehicular movement alone, leaving no space and little scope for visitors to enjoy the spot in a peaceful and pollution-free way.

The objective of the project is to decrease air pollution in the area by closing half of the surrounding road to traffic and leaving it exclusively for use by pedestrians.

The inner ring road is 2.25 km long and it has been divided for vehicular area and for pedestrian movement. It will have three entry points: from Pushp Kunj junction, from Vyayamshala police chowky and from Balvatika. The outer ring road is 4 km long and will have decorative street furniture, walking area with granite kerbs and pavings.

There will be a five-metre wide walking area on the lake side of the road besides a tree lane and bicycle lane. A two-metre wide parking area parallel to this road will come up on the lake side road. On the other side, footpath and parking spaces are planned, all made of granite. It will be dotted with low height poles with decorative fittings and benches.

The area for pedestrian movement from Vyayamshala to Pushp Kunj via Balvatika will have half of it paved. It will also also have a two-lane road but it will be used for vehicular movement only in emergencies. Special lighting, granite kerbs, stairs etc will be other features of this area. The total area of the lake front is estimated to be about 1.75 lakh sq metres and work on it is expected to cost Rs 1,633 per sq metre.