Hailed as ‘India’s Singapore’: Dholera, dressed up and waiting

About 110 km southwest of Ahmedabad, 35 km from the Indus Valley Civilization site of Lothal, and some 200 km from the Pipavav Port in Bhavnagar, on the dusty bare landscape of Dholera, an occasional backhoe or a road roller are signs of activity in Gujarat’s first Special Investment Region (SIR) carved out from villages of two talukas.

The Ahmedabad-Dholera Investment Region was prioritised over the Bharuch-Dahej Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR), as part of Phase-1 of the Centre’s DMIC project in 2011, on a recommendation from the Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi at the time as the chief minister.