Dholera Smart City - India's First Smart City

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Dholera is a town in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat, India. Dholera is an ancient port-city in Gulf of Khambhat, 30 km from Dhandhuka city of Ahmedabad district. One of the original six temples built by Swaminarayan is located here.

Connectivity

National Highway 8 connects the Dholera Special Investment Region with Delhi, Bhavnagar and Mumbai. Dholera itself has good connectivity with National Highway (NH) 8 (Anand) and 8A (Bagodra), augmenting Bagodra -Bhavnagar, Bagodra- Surendranagar- Radhanpur.

As a part of the Golden Quadrilateral, the 500 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway connects the region.

The nearest broad gauge connection is Bhavnagar (34 km).

Dholera SIR

Project goals in next five years are:

The city would be built as a world-class city, with a six lane expressway running between the city from the state’s largest city and capital Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar respectively, to the container port. It would be the world’s largest urban development project worth $12 billion.

Overview

Location and accessibility

Total area 920 km²
Developable area 567 km²
High Access Corridor: City Center, Industrial, Logistic, Knowledge & IT, Recreation & Sports, Entertainment
World-class infrastructure & connectivity: within & outside
Central spine expressway & Metro Rail to link the SIR with mega cities
Proposed Dholera International Airport near the site being developed
Proximity to mega city Ahmedabad
Benefit of sea coast, Velavadar national park
Premium civic amenities
Close to Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT)
Close to Petro-chemicals and Petroleum Inv. Region (PCPIR)

Salient Features

Empowered mechanism for administration
Autonomy in operations
Freedom in planning
Commitment to adopt best practices
Full potential for private sector participation.
Fully developed environment & framework for PPP

Further Developments

Environmental clearance was given by the government on 30 July 2014.
After the announcement of this project, many companies have shown interest in this project.Infinity infra has taken over large land parcel for their upcoming mega parks and residential townships, Singapore Based Capital and Investment Trust through its Indian arm AGC, Isobar Global Holdings has reportedly acquired 3000 acres of land within Dholera SIR to develop state of art logistical hub. Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL), the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group plans to develop Business City in the Mahindra World City format at Dholera Special Investment Region spread across 3000 acres. Sabeer Bhatia’s company Nano Works Developer Gujarat Pvt Ltd, has entered into MOU with Govt of Gujarat to acquire 1500 acres. However, these investments did not materialize due to lack of infrastructure, water logging issues in the area and poor connectivity.
British infrastructure development Halcrow was contracted as the master planners. Cisco and IBM have got the contract to develop Dholera as a smart city. This means, Dholera Sir will have a centralised digital control of all infrastructural facilities such as water, power and gas traffic through an underground sensor system reporting to a central control room.

About Post Author

Rv. Cooper

Rv. Cooper is an experienced news writer known for their accuracy, timeliness, and compelling storytelling. They have covered a range of beats and their work has been featured in prominent publications.

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