Bhubaneswar: The work for makeover of Janpath under Smart City Mission has not moved an inch even four months after a private company received tender for it.

As part of the smart city urban facelift project, Janpath is to be converted into a model street with streetscape design, beautification, landscaping, intersection redesign, introduction of lane driving and other infrastructure upgrades along the Bhubaneswar Town Centre District spread between Bapuji Nagar and Vani Vihar Square.

The executor of the smart city project here, the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), awarded the contract to M/s RKD Construction Private Limited in July2017.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation officially said that it could not start work on time as it failed to avail a bank loan to execute the project. However, a company insider attributed the delay to lack of co-ordination between the contractor and the state government.

RKD is supposed to complete the project by July 2019.

"We have asked the contractor to start working on the project. They were facing some financial problems. We will once again hold a meeting to find out if there are any issues. We want to start the project very soon," said a senior official of the BSCL.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the multi-crore project on June 22 this year.

A special squad of the Bhubaneswar Development authority had also undertaken serial eviction drives on this stretch to make it free from encroachment.

But, with the project remaining a non-starter, the encroachers have reappeared in various parts of the stretch taking the advantage of zero monitoring.

Besides, irregular parking has further shrunk the width of the road.

"It is one of the most important stretches of the city housing a number of prominent commercial establishments, shopping malls, government and private offices, theatres and the main railway station, among others. The authorities rightly chose the stretch for facelift. But, they are not serious about the project," said Nimayi Jena, a resident of Kharavela Nagar.