Smart City Dholera

Progress

In the year 2007, the Central government wanted every state government to propose a minimum of 50 sq. km. for developing an Industrial city which can compete on an international level. During that time, The Gujarat State Government gave a proposal of two Big Land parcels, one was of Kutch, and the other was Dholera, reasons it chose Dholera as the Investment Region is because it has a mega piece of infertile land of 920 sq. km. larger than what the central government requested, and about the connections from Ahmedabad, Surat, and the south of Gujarat.

After Dholera was chosen, planning of the Smart City Dholera got underway. So, the government wanted it to compete with the world in infrastructure, and they did by employing one of the world’s most famous companies, Halcrow, to plan the city; after studying the city and running various tests on the city, they made a model and a plan for the entire area, and it was a whopping 422 sq. km out of the 920 sq. km, which was divided into 6 TPs and to micro-manage the 6 TPs were subdivided into 27 Sub-TPs. The balance is still arable/coastal land.

To oversee the development, the Central and the state government contracted yet another top-of-the-line company, Aecom. In order to micro-manage the construction of the whole city, it was further subdivided into 27 sub-TPs (town planning schemes). In March 2015, the engineering was ready. During March 2016, SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) in the name of DICDL (Dholera Industrial City Development Limited) was formed. Further, in the same month, the work was given on the EPC contract model for the development of a sample area of 22.54 sq. km you would know this area as Activation area, the admin building, which we called the ABCD building. Construction of the activation area started in January 2017 and was completed in March 2021, making a significant milestone in Dholera Smart City Progress.

The work on the expressway began in October 2021 for excellent connectivity to and from the Smart City Dholera, and the expressway is anticipated to be opened by the end of 2025. Meanwhile, the construction of the Dholera International Airport also commenced in June 2022. The airport has two terminals: one is Cargo, which is going to be the largest cargo terminal in India, and the second one is a passenger terminal. Dholera Airport became a customs airport when it received customs clearance in April 2025 after the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified it as a customs port.

Smart City Dholera, located within the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat, India, is envisioned as India's first Smart City.