State govt picks Singapore firm for Future City master plan

Hyderabad: In a decisive step towards shaping Telangana's ambitious Bharat Future City (BFC), the state govt has appointed Singapore-based DP Architects as consultant to prepare the master plan for the Future City Development Authority (FCDA).Of the six firms that bid for the project, DP Architects emerged as the lowest bidder, and the letter of award will be handed over during the inauguration of the BFC office at Meerkhanpet on June 10, official sources confirmed.The consultant will be tasked with completing the master plan within nine months. Covering nearly 765 square km, FCDA's immediate focus will be on 30,000 acres for identifying the land use and also creation of infrastructure. About 13,000 acres will be identified for priority development, sources said.These include a life sciences hub (4,000 acres), electric vehicle and energy park (1,976 acres), electronics and advanced manufacturing zone (2,177 acres), residential zone (2,477 acres), data centre hub (313 acres), education and university zone (255 acres), AI city (403 acres), and health city (594 acres). Preliminary proposals also earmark land for an entertainment zone, furniture park, and sports hub, officials said.Explaining the need for a master plan, a senior FCDA official said that the authority sits between two major planning regimes."The northern part of FCDA area has HMDA master plan 2031 area (merged with the FCDA) with the regional structure of corridors, transport networks, and metropolitan centres. The central part of FCDA area, which is also Hyderabad Pharma City land, is being developed as a flagship industrial centre, anchored in key sectors such as life sciences, electronics, and advanced manufacturing. The southern part of FCDA area is predominantly rural with no statutory land use plan," a senior official told TOI.Without a statutory plan, officials warned, the region risks uncoordinated growth, jurisdictional overlaps, and ecological imbalance. The master plan is expected to provide continuity between HMDA's metropolitan framework and specialised industrial clusters, while charting a clear trajectory for FCDA's urbanisation.