Bhubaneswar, April 22: The civic body will develop three more parks in the city by the end of this year.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation will execute the project under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme, which was launched in January last year.

The civic body had, at that time, taken up the job to develop three parks at Sailashree Vihar Phase-VII, Niladri Vihar Phase-V and Kanan Vihar Phase-II. This year, it will develop three more parks at GGP Colony, Chandrasekharpur OSHB Colony and Chandrasekharpur BDA Colony. "We proposed to develop three more parks this year. The tender for the project has been finalised, and work will begin shortly," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena. A civic body official said: "Work on the first three parks would be over by July and the other three by the end of this year. The foundation stones for the parks have been laid."

The proposed parks would see an overall development, including provisions of benches to sit on, jogging path, lighting, children's play area, paver tile platforms for differently-abled persons, skating ring and open gyms.

"There should be more open and green space, which would contribute not only to the benefit of the citizens, but also to the environment. The government is loosing the greenery in the name of development, while the compensation for the same is nil. The administration should think of sustainable development," said environmentalist Alok Mohanty.

The civic body manages 24 colony parks, while the recent addition will raise the number to 30. Moreover, the corporation has decided to develop 17 parks by 2020 to be executed under Amrut. It will spend Rs 5.4 crore in the process.