The Tata-Airbus consortium, which has won the Indian government order to manufacture C-295 military transport aircraft, is in final consultations with the state government.

Union minister Piyush Goyal was addressing an “Investors Round Table Conference” in Gandhinagar.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal Saturday said that Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) will become world’s best manufacturing industrial zone.

The union minister was addressing an “Investors Round Table Conference” in Gandhinagar.

“If I do some crystal-ball gazing, then I can clearly see Dholera becoming one of the world’s best manufacturing industrial zones. I have no doubt that Dholera will grow at a pace that is faster than Gujarat,” he said at the event organized by National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) which is entrusted with the development of smart industrial cities.

Goyal said that by 2024, the International Airport at Dholera and the expressway linking Ahmedabad to Dholera will be operational.

Dholera SIR is one of the 32 nodes or projects that are proposed to be developed on 11 industrial corridors in four phases. In Phase-1 of the project, eight nodes were planned in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and Dholera is the biggest node.

“So far four industrial cities have been developed. The infrastructure has been created at Dholera SIR, Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), Integrated Industrial Township Greater Noida and Integrated Industrial Township Vikram Udyogpuri (Ujjain),” said Amrit Lal Meena, CEO and MD of NICDC. He said these four industrial townships are part of the 32 projects that will be developed in 18 states.

“In the four industrial cities, 201 allottees have taken possession of the land,” Meena added. Of these 201 plots allotted, Dholera SIR has allotted only four plots measuring 244 acres.

New industrial policy soon

Meanwhile, Goyal Saturday said that Gujarat government is planning to come out with a new industrial policy soon.

“Soon the chief minister is expected to give one more surprise to the state. The chief minister is working on a modern industrial policy and is expected to be revealed soon,” he said while speaking at the investor’s round table conference at Gandhinagar.

The minister also said that Gujarat’s proposal for setting up a mega textile park at Navsari was the best of the 13 proposals that came to Government of India.

meant to set up a manufacturing plant in Gujarat. Tata is zeroing in on a a suitable location for the plant. The Gujarat government has offered land in Dholera Special Investment Region to the Tata group to set up the plant. According to official sources, Tata is also eyeing other locations in Gujarat.

The company is looking for land near some developed airport facility like Ahmedabad, Surat or Rajkot. However, the Gujarat government which is developing an international airport at Dholera has offered land there. The greenfield airport is expected to be commissioned by June 2024. It is being developed on 1,427-hectare land in Navagam and 75-hectare government land has already been allocated for commercial development.

A senior Industries department official said, “It is certain that the company would set up a manufacturing facility in Gujarat. Talks about the location are in progress and a final decision will be taken soon.”

The announcement of the project might come up just before the announcement of Assembly elections, he added. Dholera is an important node in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and earlier there were plans to set up aircraft MRO facilities there.

As per industry sources, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd in partnership with Airbus has signed a $2.8 billion (Rs 22,000 crore) contract with the Ministry of Defense to manufacture C-295 military aircraft locally. The company, after scouting locations all over India, has zeroed in on Gujarat for the manufacturing plant.

The Dholera airport will have two runways of 4,000 meters and 2,910 meters lengths. These would be essential for a flight-testing facility for the Airbus-Tata complex, said the official. With this project, an Indian private company will be roped in for the first time in India’s defense sector, particularly the aircraft manufacturing, which is dominated by the public sector.

Tata-Airbus have already won the contract to deliver 56 c-295 transport aircraft. The growing needs of the Indian Airforce, Navy and Military may lead to further orders. Later, the company is likely to contemplate catering to the exports market as well.

The state industries minister had announced about the project in his budget speech in the Assembly session in March. Though at that time he did not mention the company name, he had said that a plant to manufacture aircrafts will come up soon.