Dholera is a town in

Ahmedabad district Ahmedabad (Amdavad) district is a district comprises the city of Ahmedabad, in the central part of the state of Gujarat in western India. It is the seventh most populous district in India (out of 739). Ahmedabad District Surrounded By Kheda dis ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

History

Background

Dholera was also an ancient port-city in

Gulf of Khambhat The Gulf of Khambhat, also known as the Gulf of Cambay, is a bay on the Arabian Sea coast of India, bordering the state of Gujarat just north of Mumbai and Diu Island. The Gulf of Khambhat is about long, about wide in the north and up to wi ...

, 30 km. from

Dhandhuka Dhandhuka is a city and a municipality in the Ahmedabad district in the state of Gujarat, India. Moreover, it is a part of the Bhal region. History In the twelfth century, Dhandhuka became famous as the birthplace of the great Jain teacher He ...

village of

. Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Dholera is one of the nine temples built by

Swaminarayan Swaminarayan (IAST: '; 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and Asceticism, ascetic believed by followers to be a manifestation of Krishna or the highest Theophany, manifestation of Purushottama, around wh ...

Smart city

Since 2011, the Government of Gujarat has been making plans to develop a smart city at Bhal area. The economic viability of the project has been questioned by farmer organisations. Several investors who initially signed the Memorandum of Understanding to develop the project, have withdrawn and refused to invest.

Geography

The region is located in a low lying area and is flood prone. In August 2019, the area was waterlogged and remained cut off from other cities for three days.

Planned infrastructure

Gujarat Government has proposed a new

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

for

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

city at Fedara. The proposed international airport is to be strategically located near the planned SEZ project of the

Adani Group Adani Group (, ) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, the Group's businesses include port, sea ...

at Dholera. A new seaport was initially proposed, but the plans have been abandoned. In January 2021 a monorail project to link

and the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) was approved. The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) will run parallel to the expressway and have seventy stations. In 2025, Dholera, along with Kutch, was identified as a suitable site for setting up launchpads for space exploration institutions by the government of Gujarat.

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

is constructing a semiconductor chip fabrication plant in the town.

Dholera International Airport

Dholera International Airport, a

greenfield airport A greenfield airport is an aviation facility with greenfield project characteristics. The designation reflects certain environmental qualities (using previously undeveloped or empty greenfield land, for example) and commissioning, planning and cons ...

is under construction near Navagam in the Dholera taluka of

. The project site is spread over 1,426 hectares near Navagam village in Dholera taluka, about 80 km from Ahmedabad and around 20 km from the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR). The

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civi ...

(AAI) inspected the site in January 2010 to carry out a techno-economical feasibility study and gave its technical clearance. The Dholera International Airport Company Ltd (DIACL) was founded in 2013 to develop the airport. The central government approved the site in July 2014, the Environment Ministry gave its approval in December 2015. In 2021, the Airport Authority of India released a Rs. 987 crore tender for Phase 1 of airport project. The airport will have a 3,200 metre long runway suitable for 4E category aircraft. The airport is expected to cater to not only DSIR and its hinterland, but also to traffic overflow from the Ahmedabad international airport. The Gujarat government has allocated 1427 hectares of land for the said project and 75 hectares of government land, has been allocated for commercial development.

References

History of Gujarat Swaminarayan Sampradaya Villages in Ahmedabad district Economy of Gujarat Planned communities in India Settlements in Gujarat {{Ahmedabad-geo-stub