Dholera Special Investment Region is a greenfield industrial smart city planned and located approximately 100 km southwest of Ahmedabad. It is envisioned as India’s most attractive location for manufacturing and industrial development. The Government of Gujarat has created a legislative framework for the formation of a Special Investment Region (SIR) under the Act 2009, for which a regional development authority, DSIR has been established.
The Dholera Special Investment Region Development Authority (DSIRDA) is in charge of planning and development of DSIR and will encompass the function of administering government land within DSIR. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Dholera Industrial City Development Limited (DICDL) has been created between the Central Government (NICDC Trust) and the State Government (DSIRDA) of Gujarat to implement the project.
Dholera is envisaged to be an incubator city, spanning approximately 920 sq. km., encompassing 22 villages of the Dholera taluka in the district of Ahmedabad. Its strategic location between the industrial cities of Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar will facilitate Ease of Doing Business. Dholera Industrial City will have a self-sustaining ecosystem consisting of economic drivers through industrialisation, utility and logistic infrastructure, and social infrastructure including education, healthcare, and other public amenities.
Dholera aims at creating economic development alongwith enhancing the quality of life for people living and working in the city. DMICDC, with the support of the Government of Gujarat, plans to strategically create an economically and socially balanced new-age city with world-class infrastructure and highest quality-of-life standards.
Dholera is committed to increasing transport efficiency and improve trade flows based on the strategic pillars of sustainability, digitisation, and innovation. It will be connected with Ahmedabad by a 6-lane access-controlled expressway and MRTS (Metro Rail) in one common corridor and shall provide seamless connectivity and rail-road transition as an effective means of transportation between the two cities. An international airport is being developed to the northeast of DSIR, by Dholera International Airport Company Limited (DIACL). The airport has already received environmental and site clearance.
Industries in DSIR
Dholera is India’s first platinum-rated industrial smart city, comprising the largest land parcels in southeast Asia. Accordingly, Defence, Aviation, Electronics, High-Tech Emerging Technologies, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Heavy engineering, Auto & Auto Ancillary, General Manufacturing, Agro & Food processing, Metals & Metallurgical Poducts, etc. are the sectors identified with a high potential for Dholera Industrial City. DSIR, with its plug-and-play infrastructure and lower power tariff, will be home to non-polluting industries, promoting clean, green, and sustainable urban development, which can contribute to the growth of the region and India.
Town Planning Schemes (TPS)
Dholera aims to improve the quality of life in terms of economic sustainability and cultural sensibility. Given this, the Government of Gujarat and DSIRDA have adopted the mechanism of Town Planning Schemes (TPS) to ensure the delivery of serviced land that can benefit the local population and the private sector.
TP schemes are being implemented under the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976 (GTPUD). The developable area in DSIR is divided into six (6) Town Planning (TP) Schemes and all six draft schemes have been sanctioned. Town Planning Schemes 1 and 2 cover the development in Phase-I. TP 1 is spread over approximately 51 sq km or 12,750 acres, and TP 2 is over 102 sq km or 25,000 acres.
The town planning schemes will be planned in a way that the community living there shall have an easy access to all social infrastructure like schools, commercial establishment, hospitals etc.
Project background – DSIR Phase I
The Development Plan for DSIR has been prepared and sanctioned by DSIRDA. Phase-I constitutes TP1 and TP2 covering 153 sq km. Apart from urban development, overall trunk and external infrastructure will be developed to support the development at DSIR. These include the following:
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Overall Trunk infrastructure projects
- Roads and services/utilities
- Raw water transmission line from the source
- Wastewater treatment and recycle
- Solid waste management
- Power T&D network
- Information Communication Technology (ICT) network
- Administrative and Business Centre of Dholera (ABCD)
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External infrastructure projects
- River bunding for flood management
- Ahmedabad – Dholera Expressway
- Ahmedabad – Dholera MRTS
- Freight rail from DSIR to Bhimnath for connection to DFC
- Dholera International Airport
Dholera’s immediate city development area of approximately 5,600 acres is expected to be operational by the end of first quarter of 2022.
Dholera Industrial City is envisaged to be a world-class destination with excellent infrastructure. The city will provide opportunities for the setting up of manufacturing units, which will in turn help in increasing the industrial output of the country and create more than 8,00,000 jobs. All of this, while aiming to provide an environment to work, live, learn, and play. Dholera SIR is a planned smart, sustainable community, which will be the role model for future cities in India. The sanctioned Development Plan of Dholera Industrial City comprises a total land area of 920 sq km.
The Dholera Industrial City area has a total developable area of about 580 sq. km., as one-third of the area falls within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) boundary where development is restricted and is as per CRZ norms. Out of the 580 sq km, the prime agricultural land has been preserved and a total area of about 422 sq km has been set for urban development. This area has been translated into six town-planning schemes and will be developed in three phases over 30 years.
