Bhubaneswar New City: Land Acquisition Status, Compensation and Villages Covered

What is being acquired, and where

The Odisha Cabinet approved the New City Development scheme for Bhubaneswar on 10 September 2025. The proposal for development of the New City over an area of approximately 800 acres, covering Mouza Gothapatna, Malipada and Daspur within the Bhubaneswar Development Plan Area (BDPA), has already been approved by the State Cabinet in its meeting held on September 10, 2025. All three mouzas fall within Khordha district, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar city.

One early briefing by a BDA official described a slightly wider footprint: the 'New Bhubaneswar' township will cover areas such as Mallipada, Daspur, Andharua, and Gothapatna. Later official communications and the Cabinet decision consistently name only three mouzas — Gothapatna, Malipada and Daspur — as the notified project area, so Andharua's inclusion is not confirmed in the final scheme.

A subsequent report noted the footprint has been trimmed slightly on account of forest land: Initially, the plan was spread over 800 acres, but due to forest land issues, it has been revised to 789 acres.

Acquisition model: mostly government land, limited private acquisition

Unlike large greenfield projects that require acquiring thousands of acres of private farmland, Bhubaneswar New City sits largely on land the state already controls. According to the BDA vice-chairman, the government has about 80 per cent own land along with 200-acre of forest land in the area where the new city will be developed. Based on this, only 26 acre of private land will be acquired for the project, he said, adding that only 26 acre of private land will be acquired for the project... 'After approval of the master plan by the government, work will start for the project.'

A later news report gave an even higher government-ownership figure: more than 95% of the land identified is already under government control, streamlining acquisition. The two figures (80% vs. 95%+) come from different points in the project timeline and have not been reconciled in a single official statement; both point to the same conclusion — that private land acquisition for this project is a small fraction of the total footprint, unlike typical greenfield land-pooling schemes.

Separately, BDA's standard land-acquisition framework for its wider jurisdiction is described on its own website: Bhubaneswar Development Authority generally acquires land from Govt. in G.A. and Govt. in Rev. Dept., and the authority notes that as government land in prime localities shrinks, it is contemplating new citizen-friendly methods for acquiring land for implementation of various schemes.

Notably, a parallel and possibly connected process is underway specifically in Malipada and Daspur — two of the three New City mouzas — through BDA's Town Planning (TP) Scheme land-pooling mechanism. The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has released a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for land parcel reconstitution under Town Planning (TP) Schemes 05 to 07 in Zone-I... The draft SOP covers areas under Malipada and Daspur revenue villages. Under this model, landowners who combine their plots will be entitled to receive 60% of the total land area after a standard 40% deduction for infrastructure and public amenities — a consent-based pooling arrangement rather than a compulsory-acquisition award. It is not officially confirmed whether this TP-scheme SOP is the specific acquisition mechanism for the New City project or a separate, overlapping BDA initiative in the same villages.

Compensation rates: not yet published

As of this writing (July 2026), no official per-acre or per-decimal compensation rate for private land acquisition under the Bhubaneswar New City scheme has been reported in available news coverage or BDA notifications. Coverage confirms that land acquisition is currently underway, but rate schedules, award notifications, or a formal Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) package specific to this project have not surfaced in public reporting. In line with our no-fabrication policy, we do not estimate a rate here; this page will be updated once an official rate or award notification is published.

Budget and funding structure

The overall project has been costed at ₹8,179 crore. The Rs 8,179 crore project was given the green signal during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. The work will be completed in the next 15 years, which involves both public and private funding.

For the first phase, the state budget has proposed an initial allocation of Rs 1,342 crore for the first five years between 2025-26 and 2029-30, reports The New Indian Express. The first allocation of funds will be used for land acquisition, road construction, core utility infrastructure, among others. While the BDA will get fund support from the state government for implementation of the project, the Center is also expected to provide a grant, if the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) approves the scheme under a central urban programme.

A separate report on the project's financing model — drawing a comparison with Gujarat's Dholera project — described a three-way funding split: The funding model will see 25% of the project cost borne each by the Centre and the State government, while the remaining 50% will be arranged through loans.

Disputes and farmer response

No organised farmer protests, compensation disputes, or public opposition specific to the Bhubaneswar New City land acquisition have been reported in available coverage as of July 2026. This is consistent with the project's land profile: since the large majority of the footprint is already government or forest land rather than private farmland, the scale of private-land displacement — and therefore the potential for the kind of large-scale farmer agitation seen in comparable satellite-city projects elsewhere in India — appears limited so far. BDA's draft SOP for TP-scheme land pooling in Malipada and Daspur explicitly states an aim of avoiding conflict: the new framework is designed to ensure easy, equitable, and dispute-free distribution of reconstituted plots. It also aims to maximize benefits for landowners while supporting planned urban expansion. As with the SOP itself, feedback on that draft was invited from the public and stakeholders within a short window within seven days of the notification, but no reports of objections or negotiations arising from that process have surfaced yet.

Current stage (as of mid-2026)

• September 2025: Odisha Cabinet formally approved the New City Development scheme covering the three mouzas.
• Land control: Reports describe land acquisition as currently underway, with the state relying mainly on land already in government possession plus a small acquisition of private and forest parcels.
• Master planning: The agreement was signed by BDA Secretary Manas Ranjan Padhi and Surbana Jurong's Deputy Director Manideep Dutta in March 2026, following an earlier MoU and a January 2026 meeting to finalise the scope of services. Surbana Jurong is now tasked with projectisation of the New City Master Plan, identifying priority projects across short-, medium- and long-term horizons... technical handholding and support for preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs)... and preparation of a comprehensive Urban Design Framework and Guidelines.
• Stakeholder consultations: As of May 2026, BDA officials indicated that more stakeholder consultations involving local representatives and sectors such as hospitality, real estate, and transport would be conducted in the coming months.
• No award/compensation notification yet has been publicly reported for private land parcels.