Gujarat's Satellite Cities: 5 New Hubs to Drive Growth & Ease Urban Pressure

Aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of strengthening smaller urban centres, the state, under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, has initiated the process to develop five satellite towns by 2030 and has invited urban planners to prepare comprehensive master plans for these cities.

As part of the implementation process, tenders have been floated to appoint experienced national and international urban planning consultants. The selected planners will be tasked with preparing master plans within a year, aiming to equip these towns with metropolitan-level infrastructure and civic amenities. The move is expected to reduce pressure on major cities while creating new economic and employment hubs closer to urban centres.

Under the state's "Earning Well-Living Well" urban development approach, Sanand near Ahmedabad, Savli near Vadodara, Kalol near Gandhinagar, Bardoli near Surat and Hirasar near Rajkot were identified as the first five satellite towns. These cities will be developed as economically vibrant centres with integrated planning for transport, industry, tourism, education and healthcare.

A satellite town is defined as a city located within approximately one hour's travel from a major urban centre, developed to absorb population growth and economic activity. By strengthening these towns, the government aims to create balanced urbanisation, generate local employment opportunities and ease infrastructure stress on major cities.

The proposed satellite towns will feature world-class infrastructure, organised public transport, including electric buses, advanced water supply and waste management systems, ring roads, urban forest parks, developed lakes, model fire stations and mixed-use zones where residential, commercial and office spaces coexist.

To ensure swift execution, dedicated approval and monitoring committees have also been constituted. Highlighting the importance of urban areas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that cities are the growth engines of the nation and must be developed as centres of economic activity to build a developed India.

He has noted that a large number of India's startups are emerging from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, many of them led by women, and represent the vast untapped potential of smaller urban centres.

With this initiative, Gujarat is positioning its smaller cities as key drivers of future growth, marking a decisive leap towards inclusive and sustainable urban development in the decades leading up to 2047.

- IANS