Bhubaneswar, Dec. 1: Amid the persistent cash crisis, the city goes one step further towards becoming "smart".
At a time when people fall on cash and are facing regular inconvenience to buy their essential commodities, the smart city has planned to have its biggest-ever shopping mall at Rasulgarh by December next year. Its model, displayed at the Make in Odisha Conclave, today remained the prime crowd-puller.
While few still wonder as to how to "shop" with government-imposed limits on cash withdrawals, others think the demonetisation-induced problem would be over by the time the project gets materialised. Besides, people feel that transactions at such a high-end mall will be done through plastic money.
The Forum Group, which is executing the Rs 500-crore project, told The Telegraph that the work on the nine-storey mall with a floor area of 6.5 lakh sqft was going on war footing to meet the deadline.
Sources said the mall would have a six-screen multiplex, which will again became the biggest in the city. At present, INOX at Saheed Nagar is the biggest multiplex in the city as it has three screens.
"I can't wait to see such a mall in the city with such good infrastructure and facilities. Rasulgarh is a perfect place to have such a mall considering its surroundings and population," said Veena Mahanand, a visitor at the kiosk.
Rasulgarh is an industrial area housing a number of companies and their employees residing in its surroundings. The group's assistant vice-president (sales and marketing) Rajint Mallik said the mall would have the biggest food court and a hyper-market of the city. "Many people are already evincing interests to have their shops in the mall. At present, the exact data could not be revealed, but the mall is definitely going to be the biggest in the city," said Mallik.
Besides, the state's biggest-ever conclave today hosted a separate session on the ongoing Smart City Project. Experts from various fields, including mobility, technology, housing and others, attended the session, which also witnessed presence of other stakeholders and investors from around the world.
The housing and urban development department's secretary G. Mathi Vathanan presented the overview of the Smart City Project of Bhubaneswar and urged the investors to come forward to invest in it, which has large-scale opportunity in the future. "We are already partnering with international agencies such as Jica, IFC and the KfW. Many other agencies are also evincing their interest in other projects," said Vathanan.
Mobility experts stressed on improving the public transport in the city, along with good infrastructure, including good roads, bus terminus, parking and traffic management system. "There is a need to make public transport mandatory in advanced cities and encourage pedestrians to abide by the rules," said Prassanna Purple Mobility Private Limited's chief managing director Prasanna Patwardhan.
