Bhubaneswar: The state government has geared up to showcase the brilliance and uniqueness of the city during the Men's Hockey World Cup scheduled this year.
Besides revamping Kalinga Stadium, the venue for the event, with state-of-the-art infrastructure, government agencies will also take up various projects, including improvement of public transport, bicycle-sharing programmes with dedicated cycle tracks and footpaths.
Many agencies, including the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Bhubaneswar Development Authority, Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited and the Pubic Works Department, will collaborate to execute these pan-city projects in a time-bound manner. The development authority has already started developing an integrated website and smart phone application for information on the city. Tourists will be able to get a variety of information such as places of interest and heritage sites using these tools.
The city administration is also in the final stage of hiring an agency to roll out the public bicycle-sharing programme. The programme envisions dedicated docking stations at key locations and visitors can take a bicycle on rent to tour the city. The authorities will bring in 20,000 bicycles for the purpose.
The transport authorities, on the other hand, will introduce 200 new city buses, mostly electronic, before November. The new fleet will increase the current strength of city buses to 310. The additional fleet will reduce waiting times along major city roads. Earlier, the Ireland Hockey Federation had expressed concern about pollution levels in Bhubaneswar, and these steps are expected to address those issues.
"The world cup is not only a mega sports event, but also an opportunity for us to prove our worth. Our focus will remain on tourists, and we have decided to introduce the bicycle-sharing programme and strengthen the public transport. We hope that the foreign nationals will like our initiatives of non-motorised transport," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
Sixteen teams will take part in the Men's Hockey World Cup, to be held from November 28 to December 16.
