The Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009 is the state law that allows the Government of Gujarat to designate large areas as Special Investment Regions, or SIRs, and to build them as planned investment and industrial zones. It is the legal basis for the Dholera SIR: Dholera is a SIR because it was declared one under this Act. The Act provides for the creation of a development authority for each region, which is why the Dholera SIR Development Authority (DSIRDA) exists as the region's statutory planning and land body. In short, the Act is the foundation on which Dholera's roughly 920 sq km planning envelope, its governance and its town-planning machinery all rest.
The Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009 is the law that makes Dholera possible. It is the state legislation that lets the Government of Gujarat designate large areas as Special Investment Regions, or SIRs, and develop them as planned investment and industrial zones with their own governance. Dholera is a SIR for one simple reason: it was declared one under this Act.
Dholerapedia is an independent, neutral reference. This entry explains what the Act enables, the governance it sets up, and why it is the reason Dholera is structured the way it is, using only sourced facts and flagging anything that is not reliably sourced.
What a Special Investment Region is
SIR stands for Special Investment Region. Under the Act, a SIR is a large area that the state designates for planned industrial and investment development, with a dedicated legal and administrative framework rather than ordinary municipal governance. The full name of the Dholera SIR is the Dholera Special Investment Region, and it is marketed as Dholera Smart City. Its planned area is roughly 920 sq km. For the region in full, see what the Dholera SIR is.
What the Act enables
The Act's core purpose is to give the state the legal tools to create and develop these regions. In practice, that means the power to declare a SIR, to set up a governance structure for it, and to give that structure authority over planning and land within the region's boundary. It is the framework beneath Dholera's master plan and its sequence of town-planning schemes, numbered TP1 through TP6. For how those schemes lay the city out, see the Dholera master plan entry.
- Designation: the power to declare a large area a Special Investment Region.
- Authority: provision for a development authority to plan and administer land in the region.
- Planning framework: the legal basis for the master plan and town-planning schemes that reconstitute and service land.
- Dedicated governance: a structure separate from ordinary municipal administration, suited to a greenfield investment region.
The governance structure it created
The most concrete thing the Act does for Dholera is provide for a development authority. That authority is DSIRDA, the Dholera Special Investment Region Development Authority, the statutory body that plans and administers land across the region. DSIRDA is the direct product of this Act. Alongside it sits DICDL, the company that builds the city, though DICDL is a corporate special-purpose vehicle rather than a body the Act itself creates. For each, see the DSIRDA and DICDL entries.
| Body | What it is | Relationship to the Act |
|---|---|---|
| DSIRDA | Statutory planning and land authority | Provided for under the SIR Act framework |
| DICDL | Special-purpose company that builds the city | A corporate SPV, not created by the Act itself |
| Dholera SIR | The designated region (~920 sq km) | Declared a SIR under the Act |
Why Dholera is a SIR and not a normal city
Dholera is being built from open land as a planned industrial and smart-city node, not grown from an existing town. The SIR framework suits that: it gives a single authority clear powers over a large, contiguous area, which is hard to achieve under ordinary fragmented municipal governance. Dholera is also a node of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, so the state SIR framework and the national corridor programme work together. For the corridor side, see the DMIC explained entry.
What is durable and what is not
Durable facts: the Act's name and year, its role as the legal basis for the Dholera SIR, and its provision for a development authority that gave rise to DSIRDA. Finer procedural detail, such as the precise internal tiers of the Act's governance model, is not set out in Dholerapedia's sourced fact pack, so this entry does not assert specifics it cannot source. For the exact statutory text, the Act itself is the primary reference.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Gujarat SIR Act 2009?
Why is Dholera called a SIR?
What does the Act enable?
Did the Act create DSIRDA?
Is DICDL created by the SIR Act?
How big is the region the Act applies to at Dholera?
Dholerapedia. (2026). The Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2026, from https://dholerapedia.com/sir-act-2009.htmlSources & references
- Dholerapedia Fact Pack, 2026 (Gujarat SIR Act 2009 as legal basis, SIR designation, ~920 sq km region, DSIRDA as provided-for authority, DICDL incorporated 28 Jan 2016)
- Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009 (primary legislation)
- dholera.gujarat.gov.in (official region information)
- Dholerapedia entries: what is Dholera SIR, Dholera master plan, DSIRDA, DICDL, DMIC explained
Dholerapedia labels facts by confidence. Figures marked reported or target come from press or announcements and may change; verify anything time sensitive against the official source before acting.