Conceived in 1975, the project has seen tardy progress, with a score of pre-feasibility studies carried out over the years.  Till date, five exhaustive volumes on feasibility of Kalpasar project and six survey studies have been put out by the Kalpasar core committee.  Officials associated with the project say construction should become a reality by 2010.

A 29 kilometer long dam will be build between Aladar in Bharuch and Kalatalav in Bhavnagar in the Gulf of Khambhat.  The dam will host a six-lane road along with a railway track, which will shorten the distance between Saurashtra and South-Gujarat by over 200 kilometers.

By harnessing water from 12 rivers, the saline water reservoir will gradually be converted into a sweet water reservoir.  This sweet-water lake will support harbors and fisheries, and also be used to irrigate the southern belt of Saurashtra.  It is estimated that 400,000 hectares of saline land can be reclaimed, while sedimentation from the rivers will add to the silt in the basin and make the land more fertile.  The net cost of this project is estimated at Rs. 30,000 Crore (US$ 6.25 Billion).

This project offers a tremendous opportunity for harnessing of renewable energy such as solar and wind.  A fraction of the reclaimed land could easily situate enough renewable energy projects to meet the entire state’s requirements.  The additional area provided by the civil structure of the dam can potentially act as a distributed renewable energy generation platform.  Moreover, the water required for irrigation can potentially be pumped using solar and wind energy.