Dholera: A futuristic industrial hotspot
The Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), one among the seven special investment nodes conceptualised as the first Smart City of India, will be developed under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project Phase-I.
The ambitious DSIR project has been planned over approximately 920 sq km with developable area of 422 sq km. This node is strategically located near the industrial cities of Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Bhavnagar. The DSIR was accorded environmental clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 19 September 2014.
The project is being planned and developed by the Dholera Special Investment Region Development Authority. A special purpose vehicle (SPV), Dholera Industrial City Development, has been created between the Central and state government to implement the project.
The area to be developed in DSIR is divided into six Town Planning Schemes. Schemes 1 and 2 cover development in Phase-I. Scheme 1 covers an area of about 51 sq km and Scheme 2 covers an area of about 102 sq km.
The work mainly involves developing trunk infrastructure projects like roads and utilities, drainage, sewerage, earthworks, ICT, etc. A phased approach has been adopted for developing the projects and an activation area of 22.5 sq km has been identified.
In order to develop the trunk infrastructure for DSIR Phase-I, a string of projects is being undertaken simultaneously -- Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMIDC) has taken up development of Administration and Business Centre for Dholera (ABCD). The project will incur an investment of Rs 73 crore. As per information available with Projects Today, the project is expected to be completed by 18 July 2018.
Dholera Industrial City Development is developing a water treatment plant project worth Rs 90 crore. The scope of work involves design and construction of industrial effluent pumping stations, common effluent treatment plant (CETP), master balancing reservoir-recycled water (MBR-R) and pumping station and its operation and maintenance at TP2E on EPC basis.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani laid the foundation stone for two projects on 22 April 2018. The foundation stone was laid for 20 MLD common effluent treatment plant (CETP) and Pipli-Dholera water pipeline projects. CETP will entail an investment of Rs 160 crore while Pipli-Dholera water pipeline project will see an investment of Rs 29 crore.
The CETP project will have a master balancing reservoir and 14 internal effluent pumping stations along with a treatment plant.
The Pipli-Dholera water pipeline project involves 13.5 km pipeline connecting Pipli pumping station to Kadipur village treatment plant of 50 MLD and 9.5 km pipeline connecting 50 MLD treatment plant to Dholera.
A major upcoming solar park project was recently given in-principle approval by the government of Gujarat which will be the world’s largest solar park to be developed at DSIR. The solar park will have a capacity of 5,000 MW.
The solar park will be developed over 11,000 ha of land along the Gulf of Khambhat with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore. The solar park project will create employment opportunities for 20,000 people. A 200 MW wind park has also been planned in the same area which will see an investment of Rs 1,400 crore.
Dholera International Airport Company has envisaged development of a greenfield Dholera International Airport in Dhandhuka taluka near DSIR region. The project is spread over 4,000 acre of land parcel and will be implemented in four phases. It will see an investment of Rs 2,000 crore.
In terms of providing rail connectivity to the region, the Western Railway has envisaged to develop Bhimnath-Dholera Railway Line project at an investment of Rs 300 crore.
Dholera’s immediate city development area of nearly 5,600 acre is expected to be operational by 2019, while the entire city is expected to be fully developed by 2030.