Bhubaneswar, Aug. 13: The civic body has organised an investors’ consultation workshop and a roadshow in Hyderabad to attract investors for the ambitious Greenfield hospital project here.

Sources in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation claimed that yesterday’s consultation workshop was a hit, as a number of premier health care facilities showed interest in taking up the project. Deputy civic commissioner Srimanta Mishra, who attended the workshop, said they hoped to begin the project shortly.

The corporation, in collaboration with a private company, plans to build a 400-bed multi-specialty Greenfield hospital at Gadakana and set up a health care network to upgrade and maintain the municipal hospital and 18 dispensaries functioning in its jurisdiction. The project had been proposed in 2013.

The plan of a roadshow and an investors’ meet in Hyderabad came after the civic body had failed to award tender to any private company due to several reasons, including high cost. In September last year, a Calcutta-based medical college and hospital showed interest to execute the project.

However, the company withdrew itself from the project just a few days after signing up the final agreement early this year. The civic body was left with no option but to terminate the contract in May and to invite a fresh bid. The Telegraph published a report on the project’s plight on May 27 after the Calcutta-based private partner had quit the project.
Niladri Vihar resident Suchismita Mishra said that although Bhubaneswar had a number of good private health care institutions, most people prefer the government facilities to the expensive private ones. “There is an urgent need of a quality government health care facility in the city. Apart from the Capital Hospital and the AIIMS, the city doesn’t have any good public hospital,” said Mishra, a home-maker.

The state government had earmarked Rs 200 crore for the project in 2013. However, the delay has escalated its cost to Rs 255 crore. In May, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi approved the revised cost and directed the civic body to invite fresh bid and execute the project as soon as possible.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said there were certain glitches in the tender agreement, for which the project could not attract investors in the past. 

“We have modified the tender based on suggestions received from the earlier bidders. The workshop in Hyderabad proved a success due to such modification. We have already floated the tender and will finalise a company to take up the project. Another such workshop will shortly be conducted in the city,” said Jena.