What does the new Bhopal masterplan look like?

The Madhya Pradesh government has unveiled a new masterplan for the city of Bhopal, its capital, marking the first of its kind in over two decades. The draft, released on Saturday, outlines a fresh approach to the city's expansion, prioritizing green spaces, mixed land use, redevelopment, and metropolitan-scale planning. This major revision comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision allowing the government to publish the plan.

The most ambitious proposal within the plan is a 51-kilometer Growth Corridor, intended to serve as an economic and urban spine. The corridor is slated to link various key areas, including the proposed Education Knowledge Artificial Intelligence (EKAI) City, the airport, a proposed Central University, logistics and wholesale zones, and suburban developments.

Rather than focusing solely on one type of activity, the corridor will incorporate a diverse range of uses such as hotels, healthcare facilities, IT and AI infrastructure, logistics, wholesale trade, shopping centers, corporate offices, educational institutions, and residential areas. The corridor will also connect with regional routes towards Vidisha, Raisen, Narmadapuram, and Indore, with designated transit-oriented zones surrounding it.

In contrast to the previous plan, the 2047 masterplan significantly expands the city's planned green footprint, increasing it from about 16% to 27%. The plan places a strong emphasis on protecting Bhojtal and its surrounding areas, as well as forests, hills, ponds, water bodies, and tiger movement corridors. Additionally, the plan proposes increasing open space at the colony level from 10% to 12%.

To address concerns about landowners affected by designated green areas, the plan introduces a Green Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) mechanism. This mechanism aims to compensate landowners whose properties fall within the designated green areas while permitting the transfer of development rights to other locations. The plan also focuses on developing the existing education hub at Bhauri into the EKAI City, which will be centered around education, research, innovation, and an AI-based knowledge economy.

The plan views urban expansion as closely tied to employment generation, identifying economic activity and investment as crucial factors driving Bhopal's growth.