Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: French firm Egis and Canada's IBI have signed contracts with Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) to execute projects under Smart City Initiative in the city.
Both firms will act as consultants for four years. While Egis will work for the Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (BTCD), IBI will work in the information technology and smart technology related projects.
According to the draft proposal, there are two major components in the project - to develop town centre district on 985 acres, which includes construction of bicycle tracks, a lake zone, Satya Nagar Institutional Core and four housing projects, and improve urban mobility and waste management systems.
"A major milestone has been achieved through the pact. These consultants will undertake the detailed designing of the projects and it is expected that the tender process will be initiated very soon," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena. The value of the contract with Egis is Rs 26.80 crore, while that with IBI is Rs 20.45 crore. The work of these two firms will include preparation of detailed project reports for the projects.
"The consultancy of Egis includes concept to commissioning of most of the infrastructure-related projects under the Bhubaneswar smart city proposal. Egis will be deploying French experts in the urban and infrastructure sectors in the initial period of the planning and designing of the projects," said an official of BSCL.
Egis is the main infrastructure and engineering consultant for the projects to be implemented in the town centre district. IBI will be involved in various projects, including WiFi, traffic management, parking, incident management system, citizen connect initiatives and transit operations.
"IBI has vast experience across the globe, mainly in North America, in urban planning and technology-driven urban solutions," said the official.
BSCL recently launched its first smart city project, a portal called Bhubaneswar One, which is enabled with different information and a map of the state capital. It has also invited tenders for modern traffic signalling system and is in the process of preparing a project report for a railway multi-modal hub, and another project called I am Bhubaneswar.
According to city social worker Tarini Rath, it has eight months since the city figured in the list, however, no development could be seen. "I hope the recent move of hiring consultants for different projects will expedite the implementation of the smart city mission," said Rath.
