PwC consortium roped in as transaction advisors for Dholera airport

As transaction advisors, the consortium is tasked with analysing and evaluating various plans, including the Detailed Project Report prepared by AAI

PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd, in consortium with Airport Planners and Design Consulting Pvt. Ltd, and SPA Legal has been roped in by the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) as transaction advisors for the greenfield Dholera airport in Gujarat.

As transaction advisors, the consortium is tasked with analysing and evaluating various plans, including the Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by Airports Authority of India (AAI), suggesting a suitable mode of implementation.

The greenfield airport will be built over 1,426 hectares of land in Navagam Village, Dholera, and serve the logistical requirement of a key node - the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) - of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. Being implemented by the Government of India in partnership with the Government of Gujarat, the DSIR is being designed as a global hub for economic activities, equipped with infrastructure and civic facilities.

The greenfield international airport, besides becoming a logistics hub for DSIR, will also help manage spillover traffic from the existing Ahmedabad International Airport in the future. It will also help handle the increasing traffic from the nearby cities of Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Nadiad and Anand.

Managed and executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle, the Dholera International Airport Company Ltd (DIACL), the project has bagged approvals like No Objection from the Ministry of Defence, Site Clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Environmental Clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Intended as a future 'Aerotropolis' driving economic growth in the entire region, the airport will be externally connected through a proposed Express Highway and a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) from Ahmedabad to Dholera.

Moreover, an Aviation Zone and MRO facility has also been planned over 2,500 hectares of adjacent government land. The Aviation Zone would consist of aircraft parts manufacturing, and flight training institutes, among others, while the MRO services and operations like body, engine, paint and airframe.