Bhubaneswar, Sept. 23: The city has set its sights on becoming the "smartest" in the world.

After grabbing the top slot in the smart city list last year, Bhubaneswar will now take part in the Smart City Expo World Congress - Conference and Exhibition to be held in Barcelona from November 15 to 17. It will compete with major international cities, along with other 32 cities of the country selected under the Smart City Mission.

The ministry of urban development approached the state housing and urban development department, which in turn asked Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited to submit the proposal for the international contest.

According to the contest guidelines, the city will submit the draft proposal for taking part in the event, based on which the awards will be given. Sources said the proposal would contain information and solutions using which the city plans to transform itself.

"Our officials are working on the proposal and will submit it to the authority by the end of this month. We want to grab the top slot as we did at the national level earlier this year," said a Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited official.

The proposal will contain information and solutions that the city will implement under the smart city project. The proposal will more or less be the same as the one Bhubaneswar had submitted for the smart city contest in India last year. The housing and urban development department will approve the plan. It is yet to be decided who will represent the city at the Barcelona event.

The proposal has to be sent before September 30.

The Barcelona City Council will organise the event, which will focus on various aspect of developmental requirements. An expert panel of the council will analyse and select the winners based on the proposal. The awards will be given on November 17 followed by a two-day workshop that will be attended by officials of the state housing and urban development department.

The Barcelona City Council will bring together cities that have already undergone developmental change with cities that haven't. The cities that have evolved in the recent past in terms of infrastructure, public amenities and other such services will share their experiences with other participating cities. The cities that have undergone such changes will guide other cities in how to implement the changes.

Developed cities will advice participating cities on sustainable development in the urban areas. Sustainable urban development means to grow without disturbing the nature. Cities have done a job in which they haven't disturbed the environment while undertaking the city's development, will share the way they have done so with other cities.

The cities will share with one another their experiences on tackling various urban challenges such as urban sprawl, overcrowding, housing, slum rehabilitation, better utility options and so on.

The Smart City Expo World Congress has been around since 2011. In 2015, the Indian ministry of urban development got the honorary award for promoting smart city mission. But this is the first time that Indian cities will take part in the event.

Bhubaneswar had secured 78.83 out of 100 marks to get the top slot in the country in the smart city challenge. Pune and Jaipur trailed by 77.42 and 73.83 marks, respectively.

The Barcelona contest will have three categories of awards - City Award, Project Award and the Innovative Global South Award.

The City Award will be for cities that demonstrate established strategies, initiatives and polices developed for its citizens while the Project Award will be for implemented projects that are already benefiting inhabitants of the city. The Innovative Global South Award is a new category of award, which will consider innovative ideas that address pressing global challenges.

In the 2015 event, the City Award was grabbed by Peterborough, UK, and the Project Award was given to Shijiazhuang, China.

Dumduma resident Janmejaya Pradhan said this was a great opportunity for the city to show its calibre at the international level.

"Bhubaneswar surprised many after topping in the smart city list. It has the potential to beat cities across the world and the administration should leave no stone unturned to grab the international award," said Pradhan.

According to the proposal in which the city grabbed the top slot in the country, there are two major components. The first attempt will be to develop the Bhubaneswar Town Centre District on 985 acres of land for which areas from Bapuji Nagar to Satya Nagar have already been earmarked. The second component is a pan city solution with components such as better urban mobility, waste management system, introduction of modern traffic lights with pelican signalling system, surveillance cameras at major junctions and so on.

The city administration will introduce modern traffic lights with pelican signalling system in 64 junctions.

The city will have at least five surveillance cameras at 26 major junctions for safety purpose.

The official said: "We have already tied up with two major international agencies which will help us prepare the detailed reports. The tender for modern traffic lights and the urban knowledge centre has already been invited. We are now working on the railway multi-modal hub and a project called I am Bhubaneswar."

The Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited on Thursday came up with three more projects to be implemented in the smart city mission such as the railway station multi-modal hub, an integrated sewerage system and the city Wi-Fi project. The administrators have finalised the detail project report for all the three projects and estimated to spend Rs 911 crore in the process.