Bhubaneswar, May 25: The state capital could soon be teeming with statesmen, diplomats, policy-makers, intellectuals, scientists, jurists, writers, artists and members of civil society as it plans an international centre for organising high-level and business conferences in the city.
The city administration has already conducted the search for a suitable land to ground the project and if all goes according to plan, the facility, to come up on the lines of the India International Centre in Delhi, will serve as a venue for the who's who of society to meet and exchange ideas and knowledge.
The project will be executed by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, which has been asked to appoint a special counsel to ensure that it starts quickly. Sources said the administration was considering a vacant plot at Unit-VI in Ganganagar for the facility. "We had a discussion on grounding various infrastructure projects where officials felt the need to have a state-of-the-art facility to conduct high-level meetings and conferences. There is a 2.34 acre vacant plot at Unit-VI. It would be the perfect site for the project," said a senior official of the development authority.
Sources said the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) was considering integrating the planned museum of urban history with the proposed centre.
"The available land is enough to integrate the two projects. It will serve a dual purpose since the delegations or visitors from outside would have an insight into the city with the museum as well as finish their work," said the official.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the state capital was already becoming an attraction for many national and international delegations, including artists and intellectuals.
"At present, such high-level meetings or conferences are organised in hotels since there are no other facilities for these events. If we develop the facility, it would help a lot," said Jena.
Recently, Bhubaneswar has witnessed many major events, including the 3rd Global Congress on Sickle Cell Disease, a national conference of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the Make in Odisha Conclave. The city will also host the men's Hockey World Cup in 2018 and the Asian Athletics Championships this year.
However, the BDA's plans to ground the project on the land selected could take some doing because of the presence of encroachers. A private school has come up on one acre of the 2.34-acre plot belonging to the general administration department, sources said. "We have already requested the school and mass education department to look after the records of the school. After we receive the report, we will go ahead and demolish the school building and free the land. We are just awaiting orders," said Subhranshu Sekhar Mohanty, liaison officer of the development authority.
