GBA and BDA to draft separate Revised Master Plan

Efforts to draw up a Revised Master Plan – 2041 by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) have been hit with the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, which makes Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) the Local Planning Authority (LPA) for the GBA area of 712 sq. km.

The new draft is only expected in 2027, which will be 12 years after the last RMP was due. The master plan in force was drafted in 2005.

Earlier, the BDA was the LPA for the entire Bengaluru Metropolitan Area (BMA) of 1,294 sq. km, including the GBA area. Now, GBA is the LPA for its area and BDA the LPA for the peripheral areas of BMA spread over 582 sq. km.  

GBA has called for tenders to rope in a consultant for drafting the RMP-2041 and bidding closes on March 6. Once a consultant is selected, they will get 11 months time to draft a new RMP after which it will be submitted to the government and be opened for the public, said Sunil Kumar P., Chief Town Planner, GBA.

BDA had called similar tenders twice in 2025 when it was preparing RMP for the entire BMA. Scrapping them, BDA is all set to call tenders for hiring a consultant to prepare an RMP for the reduced area this week, said M. C. Shashikumar, Member (Planning), BDA. 

BDA had roped in Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC) to prepare a base map for the BMA in 2025. While a base map for the GBA area is ready and will be shared with GBA, to form a starting point for GBA’s RMP-2041, a new base map will have to be created for the new BDA area. KSRSAC will likely be tasked with creating this base map as well, sources said. 

Coordination between two RMPs

With two RMPs for the BMA, there are concerns over coordination, especially as the city has already grown beyond GBA limits into BDA areas. “We need to draft the two plans in complete synergy so that the transition from one plan to another should be seamless on the ground,” Mr. Sunil said. 

Sources in the government said that either a coordination committee with town planners from GBA and BDA will be formed to this end, or committees to oversee the RMP process in both bodies will have members from the other body.  

First RMP with all stakeholders on board

Town planners and civic activists have welcomed GBA being made LPA , mainly for two reasons; planning is under the local government, in line with the 74th amendment of the Constitution of India, and for the first time, all parastatals of the city would be involved in planning. 

Earlier master plans have been criticised for neither involving parastatals like Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) etc, nor was it binding on them. This meant RMPs’ became a mere land use plan, rather than a holistic plan for the city’s growth. 

In fact, an earlier draft of RMP-2031 was withdrawn by the BDA as the Comprehensive Mobility Plan of BMRCL opted for Transit Oriented Development (TOD), densifying areas along metro corridors providing higher Floor Area Ratio (FAR), which was not part of the draft RMP-2031. 

However, with no civic polls still, the RMP-2041 will again likely be driven by bureaucrats rather than elected representatives. If the five corporations get elected councils later this year, it needs to be seen how councillors and the five corporations will be involved in drafting the RMP.