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.