Cuttack, April 20: The development authority will shortly seek the services of a qualified urban planning and urban design consultant firm to serve as a project monitoring unit to help prepare and implement major plans.
The Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) is responsible for creating development plans, undertaking housing colony projects, building commercial complexes and providing public amenities. It also regulates development and use of land, including private land, and undertakes schemes for improvement and clearance of slums and re-development plans.
"The scope of the project monitoring unit cell will be to provide expert support to improve the urban planning process and land use management, including sustainable planning approaches, better land use planning and land management strategies and planning for urban development and redevelopment," CDA planning member Gouri Shankar Bhuyan told The Telegraph today.
"A proposal to seek the services of a consultant firm to serve as a project monitoring unit has been already submitted to the vice-chairman for approval. Request for proposals from interested consultancy agencies will be sought through a tender process shortly after approval comes," Bhuyan said.
Established in 1983, the CDA has developed Markatnagar in the Bidanasi project area with proper city planning under plotted scheme with sectors as model residential zones. With continuous expansion and addition of more sectors, the satellite township has developed on the south-western fringe of Cuttack city. On the east, the CDA has developed Mahanadi Vihar under a plotted scheme.
The CDA's jurisdiction covers areas 154.52sqkm under Cuttack Municipal Corporation, Choudwar Municipality and 20 other panchayats.
The CDA, according to officials, has limited in-house capacity and resources to carry out advanced urban development activities. It therefore needs human resource and intellectual support to conceptualise, carry out necessary documentation, analyse, prepare urban planning documents and monitor them for key projects in Cuttack.
There had been no signs of development plans by the CDA in recent years. Consequently, its earnings have been sliding. A project monitoring unit cell is expected to come up with new plans to augment its earnings.
"The CDA intends to appoint a project monitoring unit for deployment of personnel with specific skills and experiences to provide services to procure transaction-related advice, develop revenue models, undertake project appraisals, assist in bidding processes and award of projects. The project monitoring unit cell will also be expected to play an advisory role for private sector investments for projects, especially real estate and infrastructure ones," he said.
Sources said private investment for the projects could be either in the form of equity, debt or other forms.
In October 2015, the CDA had introduced the National Informatics Centre-designed and developed online payment system for building plan approvals and followed up with the services for other wings. The CDA had gone the online way to improve public services with project e-CDA and launched its website in February 2009.