Kalpasar gains fresh momentum: ₹1.57 lakh crore, a 13,000 MCM reservoir, and Dutch engineers at the table

Kalpasar, the dam across the Gulf of Khambhat that Gujarat has discussed since the 1980s, is moving again. The latest reports put the estimate at ₹1.57 lakh crore, describe a 60 km dam between the Bhavnagar and Bharuch coasts, a freshwater reservoir of about 13,000 million cubic metres, and a 16-lane highway on the crest. Gujarat and the Centre are exploring a partnership with the Netherlands, the country that has closed more sea inlets than any other, and an Indo-Dutch expert group is under consideration.

Video: NewsCapital Gujarat, in Gujarati.

What has actually happened

• 30 March 2026: Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel met the Netherlands’ ambassador, Marisa Gerards, and discussed an Indo-Dutch expert group and a government-to-government partnership on the project.
• 18 May 2026: during the Prime Minister’s visit to the Netherlands, the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management signed a letter of intent on technical cooperation for Kalpasar, with Royal Haskoning named on the closure methodology.
• May 2026: the state applied for environmental clearance with a project estimate of ₹1,33,246 crore; the detailed project report had reached finalisation in December 2025.
• September 2026: the figures now in circulation, ₹1.57 lakh crore, 13,000 MCM and a 16-lane road, are higher than the clearance filing. Treat them as the direction of travel until a revised DPR or a sanction order is published.

Why the numbers keep changing

Older references still quote ₹90,000 crore; the clearance filing says ₹1.33 lakh crore; the latest reports say ₹1.57 lakh crore. The reservoir has been described at 7,807 MCM live storage in the filing and about 13,000 MCM in the new reports. That spread is normal for a project at DPR stage. What has not changed is the alignment: a landing on the Bhavnagar side with a flank road to NH 751, and Bhavnagar to Surat falling from about 240 km to about 60. The stated benefits also hold: irrigation for about a million hectares across 42 talukas, and wind and solar generation on the structure.

A 16-lane road on the dam would make the Bhavnagar side of the Gulf a through-route to South Gujarat rather than a dead end. NH 751, the road the park fronts, is the flank it connects to.

Status

Proposed; DPR stage; environmental clearance applied for; technical cooperation with the Netherlands at letter-of-intent stage; expert group under consideration. No sanction, no construction. We carry it on the timeline as proposed and will move it when a sanction order exists. Buy the plot for the expressway, the port and the city; treat the dam as upside.