Bhubaneswar, Aug. 21: Come December, the city is set to add a smart card to its kitty with talks to finalise the executor of the project reaching its final stage. The smart card can be used to make a wide range of payments for services including electricity and water.

The Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) had planned to introduce a common payment card for citizens in March this year. It had floated the tender for the project in March and recently selected banking giant ICICI to fix the modalities for the card.

The card could be used for making payments at Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) for electricity bills, Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo) for water tax, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for holding, advertisement and other taxes and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for various fees and more.

"The society is sliding into a digital world. More and more people are opting for cashless payments over cash payments for various services. At such a moment, we feel the need and decided on such a project. We are hopeful to complete the modalities and introduce the card by the end of December," said BSCL managing director Krishan Kumar.

Sources said besides ICICI, along with two other major financial giants, participated in the tender. "ICICI has given the lowest bid of transaction charges at 1.45 per cent and was selected for introducing the card. The bank has already introduced similar service in Ahmedabad and Surat," said a BSCL official.

The common ATM-like card can also be used for financial transaction in city buses, amusement and recreational places, cinemas, restaurants and even at some select stores.

"The executor will fix the design of filling cash into the card and use it later for making the payments. The executor has the expertise and will come up with a feasible plan for the same," said the official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the common payment card would be a revolutionary project under the smart city mission. "The card can be used for various purposes. Once introduced, a user can have this card in place of several others he or she carries now. We hope to provide the cards to a large number of people," Jena said.

The smart city officials hope to distribute the cards to about 2.5 lakh residents and are expecting an annual transaction of more than 30 million. "It will be a great move to introduce such an unique service. I hope the card will lessen the burden on our wallet. It should work as it is being promised," said Patia resident Akash Dash, a software engineer.