Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh‘s draft Bhopal Development Plan 2047 proposes a 51-km-long growth corridor aimed at developing the city’s peripheral areas through mixed-use urban development, commercial hubs, IT parks and logistics facilities.
The proposed corridor is expected to require approximately 3,000 hectares of land, with preliminary project estimates putting the development cost at around ₹20,000 crore. However, the funding arrangement for the project has not yet been finalised.
The Bhopal Development Authority (BDA) is responsible for working out the development plan. The project is also expected to involve a new land development policy, with private investors being considered to reduce the financial burden on the government.
Mixed-Use Development Across 3,000 Hectares
Under the proposal, land within a 500-metre belt along major connecting routes of the growth corridor would be developed as mixed-use zones.
The plan envisages high-density development, including multi-storey buildings on both sides of the corridor, with provisions for commercial and other urban activities.
The proposed development components include:
- Commercial hubs and corporate offices.
- IT parks, AI-related facilities and data centres.
- Logistics and warehousing parks.
- Wholesale trade areas.
- Residential and educational institutions.
- Hotels, malls and multiplexes.
The estimated land requirement is comparable to around six Area-Based Development (ABD) zones developed under the Bhopal Smart City project in TT Nagar, according to report.
Corridor to Connect Key Urban and Economic Areas
The proposed 51-km corridor is intended to connect Bhopal Airport with several existing and proposed urban and economic centres.
These include the proposed Education Knowledge Artificial Intelligence City (EKAI City), the proposed CMU, logistics and wholesale trade areas, and different suburban parts of Bhopal.
The corridor forms part of the draft Bhopal Development Plan 2047 and is intended to guide the city’s future expansion.
New Land Policy and Private Investment Under Consideration
The BDA has so far used a mutual-agreement-based land pooling approach for preparing master plan roads and urban development schemes. However, the proposed growth corridor is expected to require a different policy framework, as the existing arrangement may not be suitable for this project.
The proposal involves bringing private investors into the development process so that the financial requirement does not fall entirely on the state government.
The funding model, however, remains undecided despite the preliminary estimate of ₹20,000 crore.
Financing Remains a Key Challenge
The scale of the proposed project has raised questions about its financial feasibility. Structural engineer Shailendra Bagre has pointed out that completing a project of this size within the proposed framework would be difficult without a clear and robust financial plan.
For now, the 51-km growth corridor remains a proposal under the draft Bhopal Development Plan 2047. Its implementation will depend on the finalisation of the development framework, land policy and funding arrangements.
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