Bhopal Master Plan 2047 expands planning area to 254 villages, eyes 45 lakh population

The Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday released the draft Bhopal Master Plan 2047, setting out a long-term framework for the expansion of the state capital to 254 neighbouring villages and planning for a population of 4.5 million.

The proposed planning area covers around 1,016.90 sq km, with 61,017 hectares identified as developable land. Residential use would account for 43.85% of the area, while 27% would be retained as green space. Transport would take up 9.53% and public and semi-public uses about 8%.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said the plan was aimed at strengthening Bhopal's economy while ensuring the conservation of its ecology.

Town and Country Planning commissioner and director Kaushlendra Vikram Singh described the document as a roadmap for planned growth until 2047. He said mixed land use would be regulated according to road width, while the plan sought to protect residential areas, the environment and Bhopal's character.

The draft has been released after the Supreme Court allowed the state government to publish it and invite objections, while making clear that it cannot be finalised without the court's approval. The court's latest directions also state that, until a new plan is approved, authorities must assess commercial properties against the existing Master Plan and applicable building rules.

51-km corridor to anchor expansion

A 51-km Growth Corridor is the centrepiece of the proposed development strategy. It is intended to create an investment-friendly zone and connect Education Knowledge Artificial Intelligence (EKAI) City at Bhauri with the airport, the proposed City Municipal Unit, logistics and warehousing centres and various townships.

The corridor is planned for high-density, mixed-use development, with unlimited Floor Area Ratio (FAR). Hotels, hospitals, information technology and artificial intelligence facilities, data centres, logistics facilities, hypermarkets, malls, corporate offices and housing would be permitted along it.

A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor has also been proposed, with the possibility of upgrading it to a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in the future. Additional reporting on the draft says the corridor would cover roughly 3,000 hectares and form a major link between the Narmadapuram and Indore roads.

The proposed outer bypass would be developed as a greenfield corridor, with a 50-metre green belt on both sides.

The plan also proposes a golf course at the Bhanpur Khanti landfill site. Hills, forests, lakes, water bodies and tiger movement corridors have been retained as protected areas, with specific emphasis on safeguarding Bhojtal and its catchment.

The wider plan also includes proposals for Transit-Oriented Development, Green TDR, affordable and rental housing and an AI-focused education hub at Bhauri.

Green cover rises while taller buildings are allowed

One of the major changes from the 2005 plan is the proposed increase in green areas from 16% to 27% by 2047. The proposed share is higher than the norms under the Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation guidelines. Residential areas would have open spaces accounting for 12% of the total area.

The 2005 plan focused more heavily on controlling FAR and ground coverage. The new draft instead proposes unlimited FAR and mixed land use based on road width, potentially allowing taller buildings and greater private investment.

The proposed land-use distribution includes 26,755.50 hectares for residential development, 2,448.84 hectares for mixed use, 1,348.97 hectares for commercial use, 2,137.25 hectares for industrial use and 771.44 hectares for logistics and warehousing. Public and semi-public uses would cover 4,887.97 hectares, transport 5,793.82 hectares and green areas 16,489.94 hectares.

The draft is aligned with the proposed Bhopal Metropolitan Region and seeks to integrate the Vidisha, Raisen, Narmadapuram and Indore roads through the Growth Corridor.

Bhopal's planned area has expanded substantially over the decades. The city's first development plan in 1975 covered 240 sq km, while the 2005 plan increased this to 601.06 sq km.

At least seven attempts have been made since then to prepare a fresh plan, but none reached the stage of implementation. The new draft comes after the earlier plan remained in place for more than two decades.

The 2005 plan had earmarked 27,103 hectares for development, but only around 12,831 hectares was actually developed. The city's population in 2005 was about 1.7 million, significantly below the projected 2.5 million.

Population growth accelerated in the following years. Between 1991 and 2011, Bhopal's population increased by nearly 80%, contributing to more than 1.2 lakh unauthorised constructions. A 2025 satellite survey found that around 85,000 of these were in the Neelbad-Ratibad catchment alone.

Former Urban Administration and Development director C U Roy said combining ecological protection with mixed development was positive. He described permission for taller buildings as a significant change and said the proposed framework was more permissive than earlier approaches that imposed additional restrictions.

The draft will now go through the process of claims and objections, followed by a comprehensive technical survey. Singh said resolving the objections could take about a year.

He added that the Supreme Court's continued oversight meant implementation could take another two years, meaning the draft would not provide immediate relief to traders whose establishments are facing sealing action in residential areas.

The Supreme Court has separately directed authorities to prioritise sealing commercial activity in areas earmarked exclusively for residential use, while maintaining the status quo in areas where the existing plan does not clearly specify a particular land use. It has also said unauthorised structures can face sealing or demolition in accordance with law.