Bhubaneswar, Jan. 25: The civic body will get a new address on the proposed smart city corridor on Janpath in a few years.

The housing and urban development department today took this decision after it found the previous site selected for the new office of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation at Unit VIII not spacious enough.

A senior official of the urban development department called a meeting earlier this month and considered four plots at Ganga Nagar, at Unit-VIII, on the Sachivalaya Marg and on the Janpath. The department has finally decided to shift the city's civic headquarters to Janpath opposite the Satya Nagar crematorium.

The civic body had earlier demolished a kalyan mandap at Unit-VIII to construct its new headquarters there. However, the plans got changed later. The administration has now identified 3.48 acres at Satya Nagar on the Janpath for the new office.

"In line with the smart city proposal, our new headquarters will also accommodate the proposed Intelligent City Operation and Management Centre, which will emerge as the city headquarters with integration of various city-level agencies under the BMC. In view of this, the earlier land was inadequate and we had to search for an alternative plot," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The stretch of Janpath from Bapuji Nagar to Satya Nagar has also been selected for redevelopment under area-based development of the smart city plan. The 786-acre stretch, which will be called Bhubaneswar Town Centre District, will have a number of projects including a railway station multi-modal hub, an institutional core, and a lake.

"Janpath is a strategic location for the civic body's headquarters along with other agencies and the smart city office. It would be easily accessible. It is a good decision to shift the office to such a central location. I hope this time the officials won't change their minds," said Chinmay Jena, a resident of Kharvela Nagar.

The municipal corporation had decided to construct a multi-storey office building in 2014. The foundation stone for the project was laid during 2015 Local Self-Government Day following which the kalyan mandap at Unit-VIII was demolished. However, the civic body had failed to go ahead with the project there due to repeated opposition from the local residents.

"It shows lack of vision on part of the administration. and social event venue to us<>," said Nayapalli resident Girija Mohanty.