The Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday unveiled the draft Bhopal Master Plan 2047, proposing to expand the capital’s planning area to 254 neighbouring villages and accommodate a population of 4.5 million.
Of the total 61,017 hectares of developable area, 43.85% would be residential, 27% green, 9.53% for transport and 8% public spaces, the draft said.
“The development plan will boost the economy of the capital city, keeping in view the conservation of ecology,” chief minister Mohan Yadav said while releasing the draft.
Town and Country Planning (T&CP) commissioner and director Kaushlendra Vikram Singh said, “Bhopal’s master plan is a roadmap for planned growth up to 2047. Mixed land use will be regulated by road width, while residential areas, the environment and the city’s character will remain protected.”
The government has told the Supreme Court that the plan will not be formalised without its sanction as the apex court is hearing a case related to the sealing of commercial properties in Bhopal.
According to the draft, the plan is built on four pillars - conservation of the natural ecosystem, a modern and citizen-friendly approach, reforms-driven planning, and self-sustainable and economy-boosting development.
{{/usCountry}}According to the draft, the plan is built on four pillars - conservation of the natural ecosystem, a modern and citizen-friendly approach, reforms-driven planning, and self-sustainable and economy-boosting development.
{{/usCountry}}51-km growth corridor
The centrepiece is a 51-km-long growth corridor conceptualised to create an investment-friendly environment. It will connect Education Knowledge Artificial Intelligence (EKAI) City at Bhauri, the airport, the proposed City Municipal Unit (CMU), logistics and warehousing hubs and various townships.
The corridor will have high-density, mixed-use development with unlimited Floor Area Ratio (FAR). Hotels, hospitals, IT, AI and data centres, logistics, hypermarkets, malls, corporate offices and housing will be allowed. A BRT corridor is proposed on it, which can be upgraded to MRTS in the future, the draft says.
“Along with it, the outer proposed bypass will be developed as a greenfield corridor with a 50-metre green belt on both sides,” the draft said.
A golf course is proposed on the Bhanpur Khanti landfill site. Hills, forests, lakes, water bodies and tiger movement corridors have been conserved to protect Bhojtal and its catchment.
Green area to rise to 27%
The plan proposes to increase the green area from 16% in the 2005 plan to 27% by 2047, higher than the Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) norms. In residential areas, open spaces would be 12% of the total area.
Unlike the 2005 plan, which was about controlling FAR and ground coverage, the new plan allows unlimited FAR and mixed-use based on road width to attract private investment, meaning taller buildings. The new plan is aligned with the Bhopal Metropolitan Region, integrating Vidisha, Raisen, Narmadapuram and Indore roads through the growth corridor.
In its first plan in 1975, Bhopal’s area was 240 sq km, which increased to 601.06 sq km in 2005. Since then, at least seven attempts were made to draft a new plan, but none could materialise.
As against 27,103 hectares proposed for development in the 2005 plan, only about 12,831 hectares was developed.
The actual population in 2005 was only 1.7 million against the projected 2.5 million.
In the absence of proper development, the population increased by nearly 80% between 1991 and 2011, leading to over 1.2 lakh unauthorised constructions, of which 85,000 are in the Neelbad-Ratibad catchment alone, as per a 2025 satellite survey.
Former director of Urban Administration and Development C U Roy said, “It is good to have both ecological and mixed development. Permission for taller buildings is a game-changing initiative. This plan is more permissive rather than putting unnecessary restrictions.”
“After inviting objections, a comprehensive technical survey will be conducted and resolving claims may take a year. With the Supreme Court retaining the final say, implementation may take the next two years, providing no immediate relief to traders facing sealing in residential areas,” Singh said.