Dholera Sports & Recreation Zone

The Recreation, Sports and Entertainment Zone covers about 4,500 hectares — 8% of Dholera SIR’s developable land, and the fourth-largest zone in the plan (DSIRDA Draft Development Plan, Table 3-2). It exists for land-hungry leisure uses: theme parks, outdoor adventure sports, a film city, sports complexes, stadiums, parks, botanical gardens, a zoo and nature parks. The number that defines this zone is FAR 0.5 — the lowest of the ten urban zones in Dholera. Only the coastal Tourism & Resorts zone allows less, at 0.33, and that land sits under CRZ rules. On a one-acre plot, roughly 4,047 sqm, FAR 0.5 allows about 2,023 sqm of built-up area in total. Ground coverage is capped at 25% and height at 25 metres. Unlike most other zones, there’s a single band: it applies to any plot facing a road between 12 and 55 metres, with setbacks of 6m-5m-3m-3m. That is not an oversight. The plan wants this land mostly open. Of the zone’s 4,500 hectares, roughly 43% is allocated to recreation, sports and entertainment uses and 30% to leisure and hospitality, with about 14% as local public open space (Table 3-3). Two things follow, and both matter more than the FAR. First, development needs an approved master plan, prepared under the Subdivision Guidelines in Chapter 11 — same requirement as the Knowledge & IT Zone. You cannot buy here and start building. Second, there is no residential allocation in this zone at all. Not high density, not medium, not low. The only living accommodation the regulations allow is lodging for caretaker or security staff. One more thing worth noting for anyone comparing zones: Table 10-9 does not state a minimum plot size. That is what the published document says. It does not mean any size is workable in practice — the master plan requirement effectively sets the floor.