The Airport Authority of India has started process for environment clearance to proposed Dholera airport near Ahmedabad.

Proposed Dholera airport is about 100 km away from the city of Ahmedabad.

The state government has planned this airport.

The proposed airport has already received various clearances from aerospace to defense.

However the next big task is to receive clearance from central Enviornment and forest ministry.

The ministry is led by minister Jayram Ramesh, who is very strict when it comes to environment related matters. Ramesh has not granted clearance to Navi Mumbai airport even after great political pressure.

In such situation, environment clearance process is very important and crucial for Dholera airport. The actual construction work on ground will be possible to start, only after environment clearance is received.

The Airport Authority of India has issued a notice inviting application for shortlisting of consultant for Enviornment impact study of proposed Dholera airport.

The consultants will carry out Environment Impact Study / Environment Management Plan for the project and obtaining clearance from Gujarat State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) & Ministry of Environment and Forest ,Govt. of India (MOEF) for the work of “DEVELOPMENT OF NEW GREEN FIELD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AT DHOLERA NEAR AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT” with period of completion 7 (Seven) Months.

The AAI wants consultant who have satisfactorily carried out (Phase/Part completion of the scope of work in a contract shall not be considered) at least two works for Environment Impact Study (EIS) for Airport / Social Economical Zone (SEZ) project / IT park project and other similar infrastructure projects in India during the last seven years.

The background of Dholera airport

The existing airport of Ahmedabad has emerged as one with highest annual growth in traffic and will get saturated much before the year 2020. The expansion of Ahmedabad airport is difficult due to various reasons. Under the circumstances, a new international airport is required to cater the future traffic.

While assessing the potential and requirements of the Dholera SIR, Government envisaged a tremendous need for a Greenfield International Airport in its vicinity. The level of economic activities in the SIR backed by enormous domestic and foreign investment shall need a world class modern International Airport in this region. Therefore state has included the development of an International Airport in the list of “Early Bird Projects” in consultation with Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy. GoG has also signed an MoU with the Delhi Metro Industrial Corridor Development Company in this regard.

The state Government identified the location for the proposed Airport and has earmarked the land. A parcel of Government land measuring approximately 1700 hectors has been reserved in the triangle of village Pachham-Valinda-Pipli of Taluka Dhandhuka Dist Ahmedabad in the name of Gujarat Industrial Corridor Company Ltd (GICC), which would work as a project development agency for DMIC. The site is about 80 kms from Ahmedabad and around 20 kms from Dholera SIR. In addition to the SIR and Ahmedabad city, this location is also ideally placed vis-à-vis the cities like Nadiyad, Bhavnagar, Vadodara and Rajkot.