Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], March 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to visit Gujarat on March 31. During this visit, he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for various urban development projects.

According to the Gujarat Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the then Chief Minister, PM Modi, had declared the year 2005 as the 'Urban Year', with a focused emphasis on developing infrastructure in urban areas. This journey of urban development in Gujarat has completed 20 years in 2025, and over these two decades, the state has witnessed significant urbanisation.

To further accelerate this journey of urban development and to promote world-class city development in the state, the government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, had announced in last year's budget that 2025 would be celebrated as the 'Urban Development Year'.

With an extensive network of roads and railways, along with the development of international airports and ports, Gujarat today has a well-developed transport network that provides excellent connectivity to its citizens. To manage the increasing traffic in urban areas efficiently, overbridges and underbridges are being constructed across the state. In particular, in the four major cities, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, and Surat, a strong road network is being developed through such infrastructure, making transportation easier for citizens.

A state-of-the-art signature bridge, Sudarshan Setu, has been inaugurated, connecting Dwarka and Beyt Dwarka. Along with the bridge, approach roads and parking facilities have also been developed, making travel between Dwarka and Beyt Dwarka much more convenient.

Additionally, major infrastructure projects such as the Jamnagar-Bathinda Highway, Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, and Porbandar-Dwarka National Highway are under construction, which will further strengthen the state's road infrastructure. Moreover, in last year's budget, the construction of two greenfield expressways, Namoshakti Expressway and Somnath-Dwarka Expressway, was announced.

The Namoshakti Expressway will be built from Deesa to Pipavav, covering a distance of 430 km, while the Somnath-Dwarka Expressway will span 680 km, improving connectivity around Ahmedabad, Rajkot, and Dwarka regions.

The visionary leadership of Prime Minister Modi has ensured that metro rail services are now operational in Gujarat. Recently, Phase 2 of the Ahmedabad Metro has been completed, strengthening connectivity between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. For the Surat Metro, the state government has placed orders for 24 trainsets, and once completed, Surat will witness a major expansion in sustainable urban transport.

India's first bullet train project is also progressing rapidly in Gujarat. In addition, in September 2022, Prime Minister Modi flagged off Gujarat's first Vande Bharat Express, and today, five Vande Bharat trains are operational in the state. Furthermore, under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, 89 railway stations in Gujarat are being redeveloped, of which 18 have already been inaugurated.

Under the guidance of the Prime Minister and the leadership of the Chief Minister, Gujarat has also seen modern development in its aviation sector. A greenfield airport at Hirasar in Rajkot has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1,405 crore, boosting the region's commercial growth. Additionally, Surat International Airport has been made operational at a cost of Rs 3,400 crore.

Under the Prime Minister's ambitious UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, regional air connectivity has improved at airports in Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kandla, Keshod, Mundra, and Porbandar, further enhancing accessibility across the state.

With the aim of improving basic infrastructure in urban areas, Prime Minister Modi launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in 2015. Subsequently, in 2021, under his leadership, AMRUT 2.0 was introduced with the objective of making cities 'water secure' and self-reliant. Under AMRUT 2.0, during the Urban Development Year 2025 in Gujarat, water supply projects worth Rs 630.39 crore were implemented, ensuring reliable water access to 82,328 households.

Additionally, sewerage projects worth Rs 575.58 crore were carried out, covering 24,206 households. As a result, an additional sewage treatment capacity of 67 MLD has been created, and 113.31 km of new sewer lines have been laid. This has led to cleaner surroundings and improved public health outcomes for citizens.

Under the Smart City Mission launched by the Government of India, six cities in Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, and Dahod, were selected. In these six cities, a total of 359 projects worth over Rs 11,507 crore have been undertaken, out of which 357 projects worth Rs 11,277 crore have been completed. The remaining two projects, valued at Rs 229 crore, are nearing completion.

With the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), the dream of owning a home has become a reality for economically weaker and lower-middle-class families living in urban areas of the state. Under this scheme, a total of 9,19,204 houses have been constructed across urban Gujarat, making the state a leading performer in the country.

Additionally, under the Lighthouse Project in Rajkot, 1,144 houses have been constructed using advanced monolithic concrete construction technology. Building on the success of this scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) 2.0 was announced in 2025, under which more than 1 lakh houses have already been approved.

The Government of Gujarat has upgraded nine municipalities to municipal corporations, including Nadiad, Surendranagar, Gandhidham, Morbi, Navsari, Mehsana, Vapi, and Porbandar. With this, the total number of municipal corporations in the state has increased to 17.

Municipal corporations enable more structured and well-planned urban governance, and these newly upgraded cities are now benefiting from improved urban planning. Additionally, nearby rural areas have been merged into these municipal corporations, enabling residents of those areas to access better urban infrastructure and civic amenities.

To make Gujarat's cities future-ready and to realise the vision of improved 'ease of living' along with citizen well-being, the State Budget for 2026-27 has allocated Rs 33,504 crore to the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department. Under this budget, an allocation of Rs 16,116 crore has been made for the Swarnim Jayanti Mukhyamantri Urban Development Scheme, marking an increase of around 17 per cent over the previous provision, with the aim of delivering world-class civic services. Furthermore, the budget also includes plans to develop Ahmedabad and other major cities as 'Olympic-ready cities' in preparation for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

As part of this initiative, international-standard sports complexes and stadiums will be developed along with modern public transport infrastructure, for which a total provision of Rs 1,278 crore has been made.

In addition, allocations have been made under the urban development budget for water supply, drainage systems, lake development, and transport infrastructure, including the expansion of metro services in Ahmedabad and Surat, as well as projects under the Gujarat Metro Rail Project and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). (ANI)