Berhampur, Dec. 1: The development authority will prepare a draft of the comprehensive development plan for Greater Berhampur taking into consideration three towns, including Chhatrapur and Gopalpur, and 55 villages, along with the civic body area.

The plan has eluded Berhampur for the past 44 years. The last town plan was prepared in 1969 for Berhampur, while that for Chatrapur was drawn up in 1986 and Gopalpur in 1987.

“The Berhampur Development Authority prepared the draft of the plan for greater Berhampur taking into consideration all these three town plans in 2004,” said planning member of the authority R.K. Sahu.

The Town and Country Planning Organisation under the urban development ministry is preparing the plan after a Hyderabad-based company withdrew from the initiative in 2009. The state government requested the organisation to take over the responsibility in 2009.

In April, chief planner of the organisation J.B. Kshirsagar presented the plan draft at a meeting. But, a development authority official said the final plan report would be implemented after incorporating the stakeholders’ suggestions. Since then, seven months have been elapsed and it is yet to be implemented.

“It is delayed as many stakeholders have not yet submitted their suggestion. But we are expecting its implementation within another five to six months,” said the planning member.

The area of the proposed Greater Berhampur will be around 317sqkm, while the present area of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation is 85sqkm and that of Gopalpur and Chhatrapur urban local bodies are 17sqkm and 47sqkm, respectively. The population of the proposed area is 5,13,760, according to the 2001 census.

“We will prepare the plan for the town keeping in mind its growth possibilities over the next two decades,” said Sahu.

Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik admitted that the project was essential to plan a town and provide basic infrastructure to its denizens. “It’s under process,” he said.