The new city planned near Ahmedabad, Dholera City, will have 5 lakh houses that will be built there over the next 30 years
The new city planned near Ahmedabad, Dholera City, will have 5 lakh houses that will be built there over the next 30 years.
The state government plans to develop the new city in three phases of ten years each, starting from this year.
The detailed project report (DPR) for Dholera SIR estimates that 1.24 lakh houses will be built in the first phase itself.
Dholera, which is situated about 80 km from Ahmedabad, is waterlogged for two to three months every year due to rains.
For this reason, realtors say that the figure of 5 lakh houses in 30 years is somewhat optimistic.
They say that builders will need a lot of support from the government if the city is to be developed.
The second phase of development will cover the years from 2020 to 2030. The second phase will see major construction activity in Dholera.
The number of residential units in the new city will almost double in this phase, said sources in the real estate sector.
In the third and last phase of development, around 1.33 lakh houses will be built in the new city.
The sources further said that the DPR is realistic enough to admit that it will be difficult to meet the construction target set for Dholera as it is higher than what was achieved in Ahmedabad some years back.
The sources said that, in the DPR, it had been assumed that between 2006-07 and 2008-09, the number of houses built in Ahmedabad region was, on an average, 12,000 annually.
This was estimated after taking into consideration a 20 percent correction in an unstable realty market.
According to the DPR, Dholera SIR will require 14,000 dwelling units every year for the next 30 years.
This figure is considered a very challenging target by the construction industry.
Experts, however, do not see it as a challenge but they have doubts about the availability of infrastructure required to meet the target.
They say that the comparison with Ahmedabad is misleading as, in the last two years, housing supply in Ahmedabad has increased to around 25,000 dwellings per year.
In Dholera, therefore, the problem would not be of supply but of a customer base to absorb that supply, the experts said.
"It is not practical to build so many units in a new city unless you create job opportunities first," said Suresh Patel, president of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (Gihed).
He further said that government support was needed for development of the new city. As the site is far from Ahmedabad, it cannot be developed by the realtors on their own, said Patel.
Realtors say that infrastructure matters a lot for the development of a new city.
"The government needs to focus on infrastructure to realise the target of 5 lakh housing units in Dholera," said Jaxay Shah, vice-president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai).
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