Ekta Nagar Inaugurated 23 Projects Worth Rs 307.83 Crore on 31 October 2026, Including a Rain Forest With a Glass Skywalk, an Eco-Trail, a 600-Passenger Cruise and an IRCTC Hotel

On Saturday 31 October 2026, the 151st birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Prime Minister inaugurated 23 finished projects worth Rs 307.83 crore at Ekta Nagar, the Narmada district town beside the Statue of Unity. He also laid foundation stones for eight more projects worth Rs 118.88 crore, which takes the package to 31 works and Rs 426.71 crore, according to PTI’s report. The visitor-facing items are a rain forest with a glass skywalk, a forest eco-trail, a larger boat for the Narmada and an IRCTC hotel near the railway station.

The numbers below come from PTI and IANS reports of the Gujarat government’s project list, and from the Prime Minister’s Office. Where reports disagree, each figure is given with its source.

A planted rain forest with a glass skywalk

The Rain Forest sits near the new Gora Bridge, close to the Vagadiya checkpost. A Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office release, carried by ANI on 29 October, says it covers 47,000 square metres and is built around a glass-deck skywalk bridge 220 metres long. The planting brings together evergreen species from the Western Ghats, the Himalayas and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The same release lists an artificial waterfall between 5 and 8 metres high, a circular pond, connecting bridges and walking trails paved with Narmada stone. The entrance gateway, 20 feet high and 40 feet wide, is built of natural stone. An information centre explains rain forest ecology and conservation through maps and QR code displays, and a children’s zone has a rock-climbing wall, slides, swings and tree balconies joined by stairways.

Two earlier reports add what the release does not. Asianet Newsable (28 October) and Lok Samna News, citing DeshGujarat (25 October), both say twenty rain-gun towers produce artificial rain through the year, with bubble fountains alongside, and both describe a circular skywalk made of 132 panels of 35 mm glass. They disagree on where the glass came from: Asianet says Korea, Lok Samna says Germany. This article does not repeat either claim.

The Prime Minister visited the Rain Forest on 31 October. In a post on X, reported by IANS, he wrote that the Skywalk is a special attraction with views of the Statue of Unity.

The reported cost differs by source. The Gujarat government’s project list, as reported by PTI and IANS, gives Rs 14.30 crore. The Chief Minister’s Office release gives Rs 9.49 crore as an estimate. Asianet and Lok Samna say Rs 12 crore and 12 acres, which fits the 47,000 square metres (about 11.6 acres). A state release in October 2025 had listed a Rain Forest at Rs 12.85 crore among the projects whose foundation stones were laid that year.

The 2.62 km Trail of United India

A forest eco-trail at Limdi village was due to open to visitors on 31 October, ANI reported on 29 October. Named the Trail of United India, it was developed by the Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Authority, known as SOUADTGA. It has five themed zones: wildlife and nature, youth, women’s empowerment, heritage and spirituality.

The facilities listed are an entrance, a parking area, a ticket booth, an information centre, a multipurpose gazebo, bio-toilets, drinking water points, a bamboo watchtower, signboards, stone seating and trail maps. ANI says the plan includes walking tours, trekking and wildlife observation.

The project list that PTI published after the event includes an Eco Trail at Rs 3.67 crore. None of the reports reviewed states outright that this is the Trail of United India, so this article calls both an eco-trail and gives the cost only for the listed one.

A bigger boat on the Narmada

SOUADTGA announced a new cruise vessel in August 2026. According to its release as carried by ANI, the boat is 30 metres long and 12 metres wide and carries 600 passengers, with a dining area for 250 and a stage of 5 by 4 metres. The existing Narmada cruise at Ekta Nagar is 24 metres by 9 metres and carries 200. ANI’s 24 October report gives the cost as Rs 16 crore and the engine as 400 horsepower.

The August release said commercial operations would begin once all statutory approvals were obtained and the safety requirements of the authorities met. PTI’s list of 31 October names the Ekta Cruise among the attractions inaugurated, at Rs 16 crore. The reports reviewed, up to 5 November 2026, give no start date for bookings and no ticket price.

A hotel beside Ekta Nagar railway station

The IRCTC hotel is listed at Rs 50 crore in the PTI report. Pre-opening reports by The Blunt Times (29 October) and Aryan Age (30 October) give Rs 52.50 crore, 127 rooms in four categories and about two acres of land near Ekta Nagar Railway Station. The Blunt Times adds a restaurant, a cafeteria, a banquet hall, conference rooms and a swimming pool. Neither report says when guests can book.

Getting around and an evening to stay for

The package also covers the movement of visitors. PTI lists travelators worth Rs 28.22 crore, two 9-metre air-conditioned electric buses, an extension of the walkway from Ekta Nagar railway station to the Visitor Centre, an upgraded Unity Glow Garden, facade lighting across the Statue of Unity campus and the upgrade of Shoolpaneshwar Narmada Ghat. In October 2025 a state release carried by PTI said 25 new electric buses had taken the free e-bus fleet at Ekta Nagar to 55.

The Prime Minister’s Office describes Ekta Prakash Parv, an illumination festival, as having a 530-metre Valley of Flowers Road display and a 180-metre Glow Tunnel, with more than 1.5 crore LED lights. Bharat Parv 2026, where states and Union Territories show crafts, food and folk performances, was opened on 30 October and runs until 15 November 2026.

ANI’s release for the eco-trail says the Statue of Unity has drawn more than three crore visitors since it opened in 2018. Readers who want the structure, the base and the engineering will find them in the earlier article on the Statue of Unity, and the story of the man it depicts in Sardar Patel and the princely states.

What else was on the list

The inaugurated package includes a sewage treatment plant (Rs 45.53 crore), a water treatment plant (Rs 21.40 crore), a parade track (Rs 23.81 crore), a 24-metre colony road (Rs 23 crore), staff quarters, CISF barracks and a terminal building and jetty near Mokhadi village.

The eight foundation stones are for the Gora-Bhandra Road (Rs 59.32 crore), a Smart Zero Waste solid waste management project (Rs 36.58 crore), the Khalwani Bridge (Rs 7.72 crore), an integrated Cactus and Butterfly Garden (Rs 5.79 crore), Khalwani Eco-Tourism (Rs 5.15 crore), widening of Vaghadia Road to the rafting point and a disaster control room for the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

Ekta Nagar had hosted the 72nd National Film Awards on 22 September 2026, covered in our report on that ceremony.

Before you plan a trip

None of the sources reviewed for this article gives ticket prices or opening hours for the Rain Forest, the eco-trail, the cruise or the hotel, and none gives the Statue of Unity’s own hours from an official page, so none are stated here. The official Statue of Unity ticketing site is the place to check prices, slots and weekly closing days before travel.

At the evening Rashtriya Ekta Diwas gathering on 31 October, the Prime Minister said Patel had united more than 550 princely states, according to the Prime Minister’s Office text of the speech. All figures here are as of 5 November 2026 and come from reports dated 24 October to 2 November 2026.