YEIDA Hires Tractable Engineering as Consultant for the New Agra Urban Centre Master Plan

What Was Decided

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) said on Tuesday that it has hired an expert consultant to produce a master plan for the development of an urban hub in Agra along the Yamuna Expressway. The consultant, Tractable Engineering, was given nine months to finish this study and prepare the blueprint under Master Plan 2031. Officials said the new city would be half the size of Noida, with an area of 10,500 hectares.

Once the master plan for the urban metropolis was finalised, work would commence on the project, which officials said would cost ₹40,000 crore.

Who Decided It, and the Timeline Behind the Announcement

The July 2024 consultant appointment was the execution step of an earlier authority decision. In November 2023, Yeida's board decided to build a new metropolis on 10,500 hectares in Agra. The board later approved the plan, and in March 2024 Yeida began the process of hiring a consultant.

Yeida CEO Arun Vir Singh said a consultant had been chosen to do market research and area analysis in Agra to build a master plan for a new metropolis along the Yamuna Expressway, and that once the master plan was submitted, discussed and approved by the authority and the state, land acquisition from farmers would begin.

Operative Details: Area, Cost and Land Use as Announced

The metropolitan hub was to be built on land purchased from at least 30 villages. Singh stated that 20% of the land would be earmarked for residential use, 4% for commercial use, 25% for industrial, 13% for transportation, 15% for greenery, 7% for tourism, and 7% for mixed use. The New Agra Urban Centre was described as hosting a wide range of activities, including industrial, residential, and green spaces.

Purpose and Practical Effect of the Decision

According to Singh, the New Agra Urban Centre's main draw would be its emphasis on tourism and the promotion of environmentally friendly manufacturers and businesses. Practically, the decision did not itself acquire any land or fix final boundaries — it authorised a paid study. Development work on the ground was to begin only after the master plan received approval from the state government.

YEIDA's Wider Mandate and Track Record

The Uttar Pradesh government founded Yeida on 24 April 2001 to develop the areas between Greater Noida and Agra, with the goal of establishing industries to create jobs and revitalise the region. Around 2.5 lakh hectares from 1,149 villages across six districts — Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura and Agra — were declared under Yeida's jurisdiction. However, by the time of this announcement the authority had only been able to acquire 20,000 hectares of land along the Expressway, with development so far centred solely on Gautam Budh Nagar district, including the Noida International Airport and the proposed Film City. The New Agra decision marked the authority's first serious push to plan land specifically in the Agra district.

What Happened After the July 2024 Announcement

The scope of the project has shifted materially since the original consultant hire, and figures should be read as of the date reported, not as fixed numbers.

• By November 2024: reporting described a blueprint for the New Agra Urban Center that had been prepared by a firm named as US-based Tractwell Sky Group in association with Enzyme Company, covering 10,500 hectares including 60 villages of Etmadpur tehsil, Agra. Yeida instructed the planning agency to conduct a new survey covering both sides of the Expressway, after CEO Arunvir Singh noted that a survey of only one side could invite illegal occupation of land. (Note: this consultant name differs from "Tractable Engineering" named in the July 2024 announcement — the discrepancy appears in the source reporting itself and could not be resolved from available material.)
• 24 March 2025: the Uttar Pradesh government approved the Master Plan 2031 Phase-2 for urban development in Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras and Agra along the Yamuna Expressway, as announced by YEIDA.
• April 2025: YEIDA completed the master plan for the New Agra Urban Centre, now set to be developed across 12,200 hectares in 58 villages of Agra district, designed to accommodate a population of 14.6 lakh and generate employment for 8.5 lakh people. The revised plan designates 2,501 hectares (27.7% of the total area) for residential use and 1,813 hectares (20.11%) for industrial use. It also reserves 640 hectares for tourism and entertainment near the Yamuna, 823 hectares as a river buffer zone, 485 hectares as green space, 434 hectares for forest/agriculture preservation, and 330 hectares for education and healthcare infrastructure.
• Land acquisition approach: officials have said the land acquisition process will be expedited by allowing farmers to sell land voluntarily through the registry route, bypassing the longer process under the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.
• 2026 reporting: later coverage describes the project as covering 44 villages in Agra district under a Master Plan 2041 framing, indicating the footprint figure continues to be revised as planning progresses.

Status as of July 2026

As of this writing, the New Agra Urban Centre remains at the planning and approval stage rather than the construction stage. The state government approved the Phase-2 master plan framework in March 2025, and YEIDA reported a completed master plan in April 2025, but on-the-ground execution had not begun. Market commentary from May 2026 anticipates a sharp rise in land and plotted-development demand in the New Agra corridor "especially once infrastructure execution begins on the ground" — language that itself signals execution had not started by that date. Reported area and village counts have varied across sources (10,500 ha/30+ villages in 2024, 12,200 ha/58 villages in 2025, 44 villages in 2026 reporting), and readers should treat all figures as provisional until a formal YEIDA board resolution or state government notification fixes them.

Practical Effect for Landowners and Investors

For residents of the villages named across various reports (Etmadpur tehsil villages have been most consistently cited), the practical effect of this sequence of decisions is that their land lies within an area under active master-plan study, but no compulsory acquisition notification tied specifically to New Agra has been confirmed in the material reviewed. For investors, the project remains pre-acquisition: master-plan approval and land-use zoning are steps that must occur before plots or developer allocations become available. Anyone transacting on the basis of "New Agra" land should verify current status directly with YEIDA's Mathura regional office, which has been named as the office overseeing execution.