Dholera SIR - Biggest Smart City Of India Has Begin

The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project envisaged by the government of India has now come into action as the Modi government has given a formal approval to commence work on the trunk infrastructure in the activation area identified in Dholera Special Investment Region.

Dholera Smart City Phase 1 of construction in Dholera SIR, the biggest smart city of India has begun. An activation area spread over 22.5 square kilometers of land has been exclusively identified and construction work on it has been given a green signal. The construction which has started in financial year 2015-16 is expected to be completed by financial year 2018-19.The land of the activation area has been carefully chosen and belongs to the state government. It has been done so that the work can be started immediately without the hassles of having to purchase land and follow extensive steps.

Dholera Development Current Status:-

The trunk infrastructure that has been planned for it includes components like activation area, roads and services, ABCD building dholera, water treatment plan, sewerage treatment plan and common effluent treatment plan. The purpose of this activation area is to attract investments and funds through private players and foreign investors. The ready to use roads and services as well as improved accessibility shall encourage investors to put funds in this project without which the project is difficult to complete.

Dholera SIR is divided into six town planning areas of which Town Planning scheme 1 and 2 are chosen for development in phase 1 of the project. The activation area selected belongs to the northern half of DSIRDA land which enables excellent connectivity to other town planning schemes thus making it even more lucrative for investors.

The town planning scheme 1 and 2 is spread over a total area of 153 square kilometers; 51 square kilometers and 101 square kilometers each. To enable ease of implementation, the Town planning scheme 2 (TP2) areas has further been subdivided into two sections with Central Spine road (SH6) serving as a dividing factor- TP2 West is spread over 43.11 sq. km while TP 2 East covers 57.41 sq. kms and an additional 2.3 sq. km area falls on the expressway. Town Planning Scheme 2 has extensive roads with length measuring to 340 kilometers while Town Planning Scheme 1 roads measure 186 kilometers.Both the schemes have plans for river training and bunding for flood management, a feature specific to smart city.

Dholera SIR:-

Dholera Special Investment Region is spread over a sprawling 920 square kilometers of land and covers 22 villages of Ahmedabad district including Dhandhuka and Barwala Taluka. Its proximity to important industrial hubs like Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat and Bhavnagar certainly gives it the locational and industrial edge. It is aimed to be the first step towards the rapid urbanization campaign taken up by the government that shall deliver a high standard of living through its ultra-tech infrastructure and environment friendly initiatives. It shall have underground utilities such as storm water drainage, water supply, sewerage system , gas lines, telecom connection and power supply ; first of its kind in India

Dholera Smart City Project Funding:-

While the land is being contributed by the state government as its share of equity capital (as per the institutional and financial structure approved by the Government of India for DMIC project), the central government shall be contributing its share of equity in form of cash required for the project. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 2784.83 crores and central government has permission to make similar contributions with a maximum ceiling of Rs. 3000 crores.

Balance funding requirements to complete the trunk infrastructure components shall be taken care of through internal accruals of Special Purpose Vehicles or by raising debts as necessary by the SPV. In the year 2011 -12,the Government of India had decided to contribute a total of Rs. 17,500 crore in a phase wise manner over succeeding five years towards implementation of trunk infrastructure components of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project.This project and all other projects planned under the DMIC project shall be jointly implemented by special bodies called Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) that is a joint venture between the state government and DMIC trust.

Dholera Smart City Latest Ground Report:-

As per the cabinet decision, a trust called DMIC trust was formed whose primary function is to handhold the funds for the project. The Board of trustees are empowered to evaluate all proposal placed towards development of the project and after due recommendations from the DMICDC, it sanctions funds towards development of project subject to a ceiling of Rs. 300 crores. In case of a proposal exceeding the ceiling limit, it is forwarded to and reviewed by Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure post necessary evaluation by PPPAC of the Ministry of Finance or DMIC trust as the case may be. The final proposal for sanctioning Rs. 3,000 crores towards Dholera SIR Project was forwarded by DMIC trust post appraisal on 19^th March 2015.

Hopefully, the development of the activation will trigger off the expected activity on the funding side and attracts investors as per project requirement.