Gandhinagar, March 25 (NationPress) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Gujarat on March 31 to inaugurate and lay the groundwork for numerous urban development initiatives, as the state celebrates 20 years of swift urbanization and infrastructure growth.

This visit coincides with the two-decade mark since Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister, declared 2005 as the "Urban Year," emphasizing the enhancement of urban infrastructure.

The state government stated that the urban development journey is on track to be completed by 2025, during which Gujarat has experienced considerable advancements in planned city development and civic amenities.

Officials noted that cities throughout the state have undergone expansions in roads, street lighting, drinking water pipelines, sewage systems, and urban green spaces.

Housing has also been provided for economically and socially disadvantaged groups in urban regions, along with various town planning schemes designed to boost urbanization and improve living standards.

To maintain this development trajectory, the administration under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel designated 2025 as the "Urban Development Year" in the recent state budget.

Gujarat’s transportation infrastructure has seen significant growth through projects enhancing road, rail, and air connectivity.

Overpasses and underpasses are being constructed in major cities, including Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, and Surat, in order to address increasing traffic.

The Sudarshan Setu bridge linking Dwarka and Bet Dwarka has been inaugurated, alongside approach roads and parking facilities, improving accessibility between the two sites.

Several highway and expressway initiatives are underway, such as the Jamnagar-Bhatinda Highway, Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, and Porbandar-Dwarka National Highway.

The state has also introduced two greenfield corridors: the 430-km Namo Shakti Expressway from Deesa to Pipavav and the 680-km Somnath-Dwarka Expressway to enhance regional connectivity.

Urban transport has expanded with the completion of Phase 2 of the Ahmedabad Metro, which has improved connectivity between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, while 24 train sets have been ordered for the Surat Metro.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is also making progress across Gujarat. Since the inaugural Vande Bharat train was launched in September 2022, five such trains are currently operational.

Under the 'Amrit Bharat Station' initiative, 89 railway stations in Gujarat are being revamped, with 18 already inaugurated.

Airport facilities have also received upgrades. The Hirasar Greenfield Airport in Rajkot has been developed with an investment of Rs 1,405 crore, while Surat International Airport was established with an expenditure of Rs 3,400 crore.

Regional accessibility has improved under the UDAN scheme, enhancing services at Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kandla, Keshod, Mundra, and Porbandar airports.

In urban utilities, projects under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 are being implemented to enhance water supply and sewage systems.

In 2025, water supply initiatives worth Rs 630.39 crore were executed, benefiting 82,328 households, while sewage projects worth Rs 575.58 crore covered 24,206 households.

These projects included the establishment of 67 MLD of additional sewage treatment capacity and the installation of 113.31 km of sewer lines.

Under the Smart City Mission, six cities—Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, and Dahod—have undertaken 359 projects valued at over Rs 11,507 crore, with 357 projects worth Rs 11,277 crore already completed and the rest nearing completion.

Housing projects under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) have led to the construction of 9,19,204 houses in Gujarat for lower-income groups.

In Rajkot, 1,144 houses have been constructed under the Lighthouse Project utilizing monolithic concrete construction technology.

Following this, over one lakh additional houses have been approved under PMAY (Urban) 2.0, which was announced in 2025.

The state has also elevated nine municipalities—Nadiad, Surendranagar, Gandhidham, Morbi, Navsari, Mehsana, Anand, Vapi, and Porbandar—to municipal corporations, raising the total to 17 and extending urban governance to newly integrated regions.

In the 2026-27 state budget, Rs 33,504 crore has been allocated to the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department.

The allocation for the 'Swarnim Jayanti Mukhyamantri Urban Development' scheme has been increased by approximately 17 percent to Rs 16,116 crore.

This year's budget also allocates Rs 1,278 crore for developing Olympic-ready urban infrastructure, including sports complexes and public transportation systems, in anticipation of the Commonwealth Games 2030.

Additional provisions have been made for water supply, drainage, lake development, metro expansion in Ahmedabad and Surat, the Gujarat Metro Rail Project, and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

Officials highlighted that in 2023, Ahmedabad hosted Urban-20 meetings under India’s G20 presidency, gathering representatives from cities of member nations to discuss urbanization and city planning.

The government asserts that Gujarat’s urban development has been fueled by economic growth, industrial progress, and infrastructure investments, transforming numerous regions into urban centers and attracting investment and migration.