If all goes well, an ambitious proposal to increase Floor Space Index (FSI) within the 250-metre radius of the BRTS corridor to encourage development along the route, is being planned by the state urban development department. It is proposed that all developers along the 120.5 km of the corridor can get an extra FSI over the existing 1.8 FSI. This increases the FSI to 2.8. The proposal has been forwarded to the Central ministry of urban development for approval and is being simultaneously discussed in the state urban development department over its feasibility. Under the existing FSI condition of up to 1.8, one can build anywhere between five floors and above, and by paying extra one can easily get an advantage of extra 25 per cent FSI for construction of up to 10 floors. But if the proposal for 2.8 FSI is approved along the BRTS, a 15-floor construction can come up without extra cost for obtaining the 25 per cent extra FSI in case of high-rises. Senior officials in the urban development department are tight-lipped over the issue, but the proposal was suggested on the premise that bus transit development results into changes in land use pattern and built form along its route. "Passengers would increase if development densities grow along the BRTS corridor. The density of buildings would increase 2.5-fold. If this proposal gets approved it would encourage rebuilding activity along the corridor,' says a senior UDD official. Ahmedabad's BRTS corridor holds several similarities with the BRTS in Curitiba in Brazil. Curitiba city was the first in the world to create a road hierarchy and to fuse land control system with its mass transportation services. The planning worked on the premise that urban growth should be channelled into desired areas where transport access was sufficient. Transport policies are directly linked to land-use strategies. The layout of the streets was seldom altered in Curitiba. A coordinated growth of the city was achieved by combining land-use and infrastructure planning. Interchange stations were placed in proximity to busy areas. "For instance, in case of Ahmedabad, the phase-II corridor attempts to link more destinations and also access the central business areas of the city. This includes outlying suburbs like Bopal, Chandkheda, Narol, Odhav and now even GIFT city in Gandhinagar. The BRTS project has considered urban sprawl and potential areas of growth in its project,' adds the UDD official.