Cabinet approves Bhopal metro-rail project; tenders for first civil work package issued

12 Oct 2018 CW Team

The Centre has cleared the execution of the Bhopal metro-rail project comprising two corridors of a total length of 27.87 km. The first one is from Karond Circle to AIIMS, with a length of 14.99 km and the second one is from Bhadbhada Square to Ratnagiri Tiraha of length 12.88 km. These two corridors will act as links to connect major public areas and clusters of Bhopal.

The Karond to AIIMS corridor will have 14 elevated and two underground stations. The second line from Bhadbhada Square to Ratnagiri Tiraha is reported to be elevated throughout, with 14 stations covering the entirety of the corridor.

The project is estimated to be developed at a cost of Rs 69.41 billion and is expected to be finished in four years. As reported, the tenders for the first civil work package have been floated and work is expected to begin soon. A special purpose vehicle namely the Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Company (MPMRCL) will execute the project.

According to reports, the project will be funded partly by the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh Government on equal equity basis, and the rest will be funded through loan from the European Investment Bank.

DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH in consortium with Louis Berger SAS and Geodata Engineering SpA has reportedly been appointed as general consultant (GC) for the project.

The 2.3-million population of Bhopal is expected to take advantages of the metro. Some of the facilities that will be developed will include intermediate public transport and non-motorised transport, multi-modal integration with railway stations and BRTS stations, and feeder network of buses. Other amenities such as non-fare box revenue from rental and advertisement, value capture financing through transit oriented development and transfer of development rights will also be part of the infrastructure.As reported, residential areas along this corridor will also be beneficial from the project.

Real Estate

30 Jul 2026

Redevelopment 2.0

In 2017, Mumbai identified 160,000 ageing buildings due for structural audit. Close to half of these were in the Western Suburbs. Redeveloping the oldest and structurally weakest of these would help unlock new housing, much needed given the city’s growing population density and constant developed area of 437.7 sq km. At 30,600 people per sq km in 2024, Mumbai’s density was almost thrice that of Gurugram, and 60 per cent higher than Bengaluru’s.Essentially, Mumbai’s realty market has demand. It has capital. It has realty development potential.Fast forward to 2026. Mumbai has 1,094 regis..

Cost intelligence will become a strategic contributor to project success

As India's construction industry accelerates its digital transformation, integrated platforms, AI and connected data are becoming essential to improving cost certainty, project efficiency and sustainability. Ravi Kumar, Sales Director – India, RIB Software India, shares how digital workflows are reshaping project planning, commercial management and decision-making across the construction value chain.India's construction sector is embracing digital technologies at an unprecedented pace. From your perspective, what are the biggest shifts driving this transformation and how is RIB Software enab..

Twin Tracks

Digital-twin adoption in India’s rail sector is gradually making its presence felt across asset management, infrastructure planning, predictive maintenance, construction monitoring and operator training.While large-scale deployments of digital twins are still evolving, Nipun Dumpala, a Senior Technical Lead specialising in digital twins, synthetic data, simulation and mixed reality technologies, points out that several organisations are exploring BIM-integrated digital twins, IoT-enabled monitoring, AI-based analytics and simulation platforms to improve operational efficiency and reduce life..