A high-level meeting held in Delhi to finalise details of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) has identified a ‘suburban metro link’ between Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Dholera as an important transport connectivity plan for the proposed Ahmedabad-Dholera special investment region (SIR). The project acquires significance as Dholera — located about 110 kms from Ahmedabad — could well give it a port-city status if the port being proposed by the Adani group comes up at this location in the Gulf of Khambhat.Proper connectivity between Ahmedabad and Dholera would mean that goods being shipped from the Delhi side along the DMIC would be exported out of Dholera, instead of taking the shipments all the way to Mumbai, because of a distance shortened by almost 400 kms. An international airport has already been proposed at Fedara.
An internal note on the Delhi meeting says the metro link will facilitate passenger movement between these three locations in view of thousands of crores worth of investment likely to come up in the SIR. The state government has already written to the Centre to approve a metro rail plan for Ahmedabad city and its outskirts, which could well get linked up to this new metro plan along the SIR. The note suggests three more rail projects would be taken up on a priority basis to boost the Ahmedabad-Dholera SIR.
These are – conversion to broad gauge of the Ahmedabad-Botad rail line (150 km); new rail link from Bhimnath to Dholera (16 km); and a new rail link from Bhavnagar to Petlad via Adhelai, Dholera and Vataman (170 km). The note says these rail links will provide connectivity to Dholera and Bhavnagar ports. The corridor will also require broadening of several roads providing linkages to Dholera and Bhavnagar ports.
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