MP Releases Draft Bhopal Development Plan-2047 With 51-km Growth Corridor
Madhya Pradesh has released the draft Bhopal Development Plan-2047, proposing a 51-km growth corridor, expanded green cover and an EKAI City.
The Madhya Pradesh government released the draft of the Bhopal Development Plan-2047 on Saturday, days after the Supreme Court permitted it to publish a fresh masterplan for the capital. The draft sets out a new framework for the city's expansion, with an emphasis on green areas, mixed land use, redevelopment and planning at a metropolitan scale.
It is the first masterplan for Bhopal in more than two decades. The previous plan was notified in 1995 and covered a planning horizon that ended in 2005.
The most prominent expansion proposal is a 51-km Growth Corridor, with roughly 3,000 hectares earmarked for development. Conceived as an economic and urban spine, it would link the proposed Education Knowledge Artificial Intelligence (EKAI) City, the airport, a proposed CMU, logistics and wholesale zones, and suburban developments.
Instead of reserving the corridor for a single activity, the plan envisages a mix of hotels, healthcare facilities, IT and AI infrastructure, logistics operations, wholesale trade, malls, corporate offices, educational institutions and housing. The corridor is also meant to connect with regional routes towards Vidisha, Raisen, Narmadapuram and Indore, with surrounding areas designated as transit-oriented zones.
Alongside the expansion, the draft raises the city's planned green footprint from about 16% under the 2005 plan to 27% under the 2047 plan. It places particular stress on protecting Bhojtal and its catchment, forests, hills, ponds, water bodies and tiger movement corridors. Open space at the colony level is proposed to rise from 10% to 12%.
A Green Transfer of Development Rights mechanism has been proposed to compensate landowners whose land falls within designated green areas, while allowing development rights to be shifted elsewhere.
The draft also proposes developing the existing education hub at Bhauri into an EKAI City focused on education, research, innovation and an AI-based knowledge economy. It ties urban expansion to employment generation, identifying economic activity and investment as key drivers of Bhopal's growth.