Saharanpur or Dholera- Who wins the Smart City Contest?

Saharanpur, a city found by a Mughal treasurer belongs to the state of Uttar Pradesh. Its fertile terrain produces crops and fruits in plenty and the city is also famous for its wood carving and cottage industry. It is also a home to many industries including textiles, sugar, paper and cigarette factories. The city was ranked 3rd in the smart city contest held in Uttar Pradesh and is also selected under AMRUT scheme. Another area set aside for development is Dholera SIR.

Dholera SIR is another smart city selected to be to be developed as the first smart city of India

It is a small village situated in the Ahmedabad district of Gujarat and has not seen much development since its formation. Its major income is generated through agriculture but the salinity in water has affected productive farming adversely over last few years. Income levels are lower than moderate with luxury reserved for only a handful of people. 

Drawing a comparison between both the smart cities eventually leads to a conclusion based on which it can be clearly said that Dholera shall be a better smart city as compared to Saharanpur. 

The underdevelopment of Dholera in the current time actually works in its favor making it a more preferable city to invest in and also increasing its scope for better planning as compared to Saharanpur (which is currently much more developed than Dholera). Here is how this works:-

• Dholera has negligible infrastructure development making the entire land free for uninterrupted planning by international architects. Master planning can be done in a more structured manner without having to worry about bypassing a sewage connection or bringing down an existing construction. Situation is quite reverse in Saharanpur owing to its current infrastructure development. Thus Dholera SIR shall emerge to be a better planed and designed special investment region. 

• Dholera currently fares very low in terms of property prices making it a very interesting investment option for investors. Since it is the first smart city to be developed, the rates are expected to soar up quickly and exponentially. Saharanpur’s land valuation is moderate and though appreciation is expected, it shall not be comparable to Dholera since the cost of land is currently much higher.

Beside the above Dholera is also better placed because the development work on it has already begun with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 3,000 crore by the government. Saharanpur’s planning is yet to see light of the day, leave alone development. The funds allocated to it are also quite low (Rs. 480 crore spread in 5 years) which shall slow down development activity when it begins. 

It is evident that Dholera SIR is far ahead and is all set to win the smart city contest against Saharanpur.

Why Dholera shall be Better Developed than Rampur?

Rampur v/s Dholera!

Uttar Pradesh v/s Gujarat!

Population of 3.25 lacs v/s 2,500!

Area of 84 sq. km v/s 920 sq.km!

500 crore funds v/s 3,000 crores

One amongst 100 smart cities v/s Modi’s Dream project

The city of Rampur is located in Uttar Pradesh with wine-making, sugar processing, textile weaving, and the manufacture of agricultural implements being the main industries based on which residents earn their income. It is directly connected to few northern cities of India through railways and road. It was established centuries ago and is one of the Muslim majority district as per 2001 census.

Dholera is a small village close to Dhanduka village in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. Major income for residents comes from irrigation and farming, though the land is largely affected due to salinity causing major portions of it becoming non-fertile. Dholera Smart City is the first smart city and the dream child of Mr. Modi, envisaged way before he became the Prime Minister of India. It boasts of excellent connectivity both locally and internationally through six lane highway, international airport, port, metro and railways.

Dholera Smart City enjoys the following edge over Rampur and thus is a better and smarter city to reside and invest in:-

·         City size – Dholera is being developed as an Indian city that cannot go unnoticed in terms of size. Encompassing an area of 920 square kilometers, the city shall be twice the size of Mumbai and six times the size of Shanghai. This shall positively influence the multinationals and foreign investors who are looking forward to set up their industries and manufacturing units in the SIR. Rampur is one tenth the size of Dholera and shall not be as attractive for investors.

·         Global manufacturing hub – Dholera is being developed as a global manufacturing hub. Its nearness to the DMIC corridor works much in favor and make companies consider Dholera as a serious investment option. Rampur does not enjoy this feature making it difficult for companies to invest in the city.

·         Property prices - The price of property in Dholera Smart City is much cheaper than that in Rampur. Thus an investors who buy a piece of land in Dholera today and construct a property on it shall attract much higher returns to those who invest in Rampur. Dholera probably has the cheapest land available amongst the 100 smart cities making it a very interesting option for commercial users and also for those who seek to invest in residential properties.

·         Progress in Development – Dholera is the first smart city of India. Therefore its development is far ahead than that of Rampur. Rampur is at a very nascent stage and the master plan for the city is yet to be laid out. This shall then be followed by approvals and sanctioning of funds. Rs. 96 core per year (for 5 years) has been allotted for development of Rampur. On the contrary, Dholera has been sanctioned Rs. 3,000 crore which is being used for development of trunk infrastructure component. The planning has been completed many years ago and approval for construction of Town Planning Scheme 1 and Scheme 2 has been received for Dholera.

All the above points go a long way in narrating that Dholera Smart City shall be far better developed than Rampur and probably become the fastest developing smart city of India.