Bhubaneswar, Sept. 3: The local civic body plans to take on an array of infrastructure projects, most of which are construction of roads and drainage systems, in 16 of the 67 wards of the city.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation will spend Rs 7.30 crore to build roads, drains, crematoriums, transit-shelters for slum dwellers, hospitals and parks. The civic body will take up 43 construction and renovation projects.

Among the 16 wards that are set to see the developments, two wards - ward No. 9 and ward No. 22 - will have a major share, where the civic body will spend more than Rs 1 crore each. The civic body aims to complete all the work by July next year.

Residents of ward No. 9, which covers areas such as Gadakana and parts of Damana, will have two new roads, one drain, two transit shelters and a renovated burial ground, while people of ward No. 22, which covers areas such as Bharatpur and Mahalaxmi Vihar, will have a new crematorium and a drain.

Bharatpur resident Himanshu Hota said the crematorium would prove great relief to residents in the area. "The civic body has a number of crematoriums across the city, but none was there in our area. Our ward is house to more than 3,000 households with nearly 15,000 populations. Such a facility will serve a lot of purpose," said Hota.

Among other major projects, the civic body will renovate a dispensary at VSS Nagar. "We are committed to the development of the city. We are here to provide the citizen a wide array of services. This is just the beginning. Under the smart city project, people will see a transformed Bhubaneswar very soon," said city mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

A senior civic body official said they had invited bidders to take up these projects. "We have already floated tender for the projects. Once the process got finalised, projects like roads and drains will be executed by the end of this year, while other projects such as crematorium and transit shelters will be completed by July next year," said the official.

Gadakana resident Md. Yasin said the burial ground here had remained in a dilapidated condition for long. "It is great that at last they are planning to renovate the burial ground here," said Yasin.

This is the third time since June this year that the civic body has taken up such array of projects at one go. In the first phase, the civic body had initiated work on nearly 32 projects.

In the second phase, they had launched 38 projects. A senior official in the civic body said the projects taken up in the first and second phases were nearing completion.