Bhubaneswar, Dec. 19: In an attempt to bring the government offices, which run from rented places, under one roof, three nine-storey towers will be constructed in Unit-V behind the state secretariat and near the police building.

Work on the first phase will start after the offices of the town planning, agriculture department and health department are demolished as this will clear around 8.3 acres for the towers to be constructed.

The public works department has already chalked out the design of one of these towers. This new building will come up at Unit-V in front of the annexe building of Nirman Soudh near Power House Square. The new tower will look almost like the commissionerate building located nearby.

D.B. Behera, executive engineer of division-IV of building wing of works department, said that of the three towers, work on the first one would start in next one or two months.

'The other towers will be constructed later after the land is cleared,' said Behera.

Offices of the additional district magistrate, Odisha Staff Selection Commission, employment exchange, national highways, Odisha, handicraft directorate and several others are located here in this area.

The new nine-storey building will house several offices of the state government. Though the officials could not confirm all of them, they said the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) had given requisition to acquire two floors in this yet to be constructed building.

Chief engineer of buildings Satya Ranjan Sethi said the first building would come up over an area of 3,000sqft. It will allot 12 per cent space for official cabins and 25 per cent for the employees' working area.

Besides, the building will have a conference hall on the top floor. Waiting halls and canteens will also be there. Moreover, it will have a basement as well as ground parking slot where as many as 400 cars can be parked. There would be adequate elevators and will be disabled-friendly.

This building will follow the green building norms of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) and will also fulfil the criteria of three-star Griha (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) ratings of Adarsh (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats).

Adarsh is mandated to promote development of buildings and habitats in India through Griha.

Adarsh is an independent platform for the interaction on scientific and administrative issues related to sustainable habitats in the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Teri with support from the Union ministry of new and renewable energy.

'This building will have a rainwater-harvesting system and a waste water treatment plant. Besides, it will have energy efficiency system where at least 20 per cent lights in the common areas will be solar powered,' said Sethi.

The project cost of this building has been fixed at around Rs 124 crore and a Delhi-based company will conduct the job. It is supposed to finish the construction within two years.

'In next few days the demolition process will start. In the meantime, the offices will be shifted elsewhere. We are hopeful of starting the work as soon as possible,' said the chief engineer.

Sources said the chief minister also upbeat about the plan. An official said when the building plan was shown to the chief minister, he drew a dome at the top of this building just like the one on the commissionerate police building. 'Both these buildings located nearby, will look like twin structures,' said the officer.