Patna, June 26: A three-member team of the international consultancy firm assigned the task to prepare a city development plan (CDP) today started visiting the wards to identify the local civic problems.

Hired by the Department for International Development (DFID), Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. would include the problems in the grassroots in its revised CDP to be submitted to the state urban development department. Prabhakar Kumar, a senior manager of the firm, said the team assigned to conduct a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis for the CDP today visited the wards under the Kankerbagh circle. Several Patna Municipal Corporation officials and councillors accompanied the team.

“The idea is to prepare a plan to make the city liveable, clean and developed. We are going to wards to identify the local problems, which will be integrated in the CDP. Today, we identified absence of drainage, water supply and waste disposal systems as the biggest issues in Kankerbagh. We are detailing as to how these issues are troubling people in these wards,” Kumar said.

“Drainage is the biggest problem in the area and has not been addressed for decades. As a result, waterlogging is a perennial issue in Kankerbagh. While National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) constructed some of the main drains, another government agency constructed a few internal drains. It has helped little, as inlets of the drains have been constructed above the road-level. As a result, excess water on the streets is not drained out properly,” Kumar said.

“Another issue plaguing the areas is potable water supply. The water pipeline was laid about 40 years ago and is mostly broken or choked. At some other places, there are plastic pipelines, which often burst. Subsequently, the water gets contaminated coming in touch with drain water. We have noted all these points,” Kumar said.

He said almost all roads and open spaces in the locality were filled with solid waste. It is not carted away regularly, resulting in nauseating stench.

“We also spoke to a number of residents of the area to take their opinions,” Kumar said, adding that the team would cover the New Capital, Patna City and Bankipore circles in the next three days.

The report of the Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. is expected to be prepared within the next three months. It would suggest various projects based on the study, their order of priority and funding patterns for each of them. The projects will be funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.