MORE GREEN STRETCHES TO COME UP IN THE CITY BY 2030. PICTURES BY SANJIB MUKHERJEEOUR CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, May 20: A blueprint is being drawn up to give capital city a greener look.

The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has set its eyes on 2030, the year by which they intend to create several new green zones in the city.

To transform its vision into reality, the BDA will soon have a comprehensive development plan (CDP) exclusively for parks. The plan will also have the provision to equip these green zones with utility services. A battery of architects, along with horticulture and floriculture landscape designers, will be engaged to implement BDA’s vision 2030.

Chief horticulturist of BDA Ashok N. Dhar said the issue was discussed at a meeting held on May 11. Speaking about the plan, Dhar said: “Bhubaneswar will be the only city in the country to have a CDP for parks. The meeting decided to assign the task of preparing the document to an expert or an organisation so that the CDP is ready within six months.”

“Although the first meeting was basically a brainstorming session to create a database on experts available and ideas to be incorporated, the officials opted to advertise for horticulture and floriculture landscape designers and architects. Once an expert is selected, the details of the vision will be discussed,’’ he added.

The CDP will propose to equip parks with water gardens, palm and tropical gardens. “As a result of climate change, the characteristics of plants in the city are changing from sub-tropical to tropical type. Therefore, we are eying tropical varieties for city gardens,’’ Dhar said.

The parks will be scientifically managed and there will be exclusive children’s park depending on the locality. “If an area with more schools and institutions are identified, then there will be parks exclusively for children. There will be special enclosures for physically and mentally-challenged children,’’ he said.

Parks for children would also have various types of attractive toys, play tools, rides, and even a library. Dhar said a library would add to the learning environment of the park. The plan would also propose to equip all existing parks with facilities such as, drinking water, toilet, parking lot, walking and jogging tracks, benches and rain shelter. While parks near educational institutions would cater to the specific needs of children, those near market places will have multi-utility services such as, food courts, eateries, amphitheatres for small meetings, functions and product launch events.

“Multi-utility parks near market places or commercial centres will aim to cater to the needs of all types of visitors, including kids,’’ said Dhar. The CDP will also have provisions to designate specific city areas for development as parks. So areas once designated as parks in the CDP would not be violated by any other plan requirement.