The government of Gujarat put
forward a promising future for the state by signing an MoU (Memorandum of
Understanding) with Cerestra Managers Private Limited. This project aims to
harness Dholera; the biggest Greenfield Smart City developed by the state and
drive a special initiative to promote education activities in the state. The
project has been coined as G-SER: Gujarat Special Education Region. The project
was signed in the presence of the CM of Gujarat in late December and is
expected to spread across 1,000 acres of land across Dholera SIR.
G-SER: Education in Gujarat moving
towards a promising Epoch.
With a resolution to offer stiff
competition in the field of education across the globe, the state of Gujarat
partners with Cerestra Ventures; India’s largest education infrastructure fund.
The project aims to harness Dholera’s SIR region precisely by creating an
education hub. Incepted at an estimate of 1,000 acres, this assignment
possesses potential of 5,000 acres and will support infrastructures such as
sports complexes, student housing, research labs, etc. Cerestra Ventures claims
to focus on presenting a quality-centric education hub, that assures to be
‘First-in-class’.
All About Cerestra Ventures
Cerestra Ventures, the Hyderabad
based private equity firm focuses especially on Edu-infra and real estate. This
premier education infrastructure fund has been involved in the development and
growth of real estate not only in the arena of education but also in life
sciences. It has undertaken several projects in Tier-one cities like Mumbai and
Bangalore as well. Under the G-SER, Cerestra aims to birth housing university
districts, innovative districts as well as school districts, besides sports
complexes and other facilities. These facilities have also been considered to
play an integral role in driving direct and indirect employment to an estimate
of 1.5 lakh people.
How will the MoU change things for
Gujarat?
Being the biggest Greenfield smart
city of the state, Gujarat recognizes the potential that Dholera Special
Investment Region (DSIR) holds. The MoU was signed by the ACS to the Chief
Minister and the Chairman of Dholera’s Industrial city Mr. M. K. Das proves to
be a flagship project for the state. By this MoU, Cerestra Managers Private
Limited is all set for establishing a global stir in the field of education. It
is anticipated that leading educational institutes across the world would be
attracted to investing and setting up their educational base at Dholera SIR.
During the event, the CM claimed that this establishment will holistically
accelerate development in Gujarat and in return pioneer a knowledge-driven
economy for the state as well as ingrain the seed of employment. Last but not
the least, the MoU is expected to draw an investment of an approximate value of
Rs 10,500 crore in the region.
Along with the concurrent
developments in the state; Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, Dholera International
airport, another boon that the city will witness is the Ahmedabad-Dholera SIR monorail project.
The state of Gujarat finally gave a
green signal to the state’s first monorail project early this January. Dholera SIR
has been quite appealing to a bunch of developments for some time now.
The Greenfield Smart City is approximately 920 Sq. Kms in area
and has industrial cities such as Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad, and Surat in its
proximity, which is an absolute advantage. With intentions to transform this
city into a smart planned industrial town, the state government has approved Rs.
6,000 crore in response to the draft project report (DPR) of the Mass Rapid
Transit System (MRTS) project. The state of Gujarat has secured this project
financially and technically under the Government of India’s DMIC (Delhi Mumbai
Industrial Corridor) project. In addition, this project following the approval
from the Centre and the state government has been included in the JICA (Japan
International Cooperation Agency). The tentative period for this project to be
completed is around 24 to 36 months. On completion of the project, the monorail
is expected to function at seven stations, out of which six are to be an
elevated structure in parallel to the Ahmedabad- Dholera
expressway.