Bhubaneswar: The civic body will take over all shops and other commercial complexes belonging to the general administration department to ensure their proper maintenance and generate additional revenue.

At present, several such establishments belonging to the department exist at Unit-I, Unit-II, Nayapalli and Unit-IV. The department will hand over 153 shops, shopping centres and commercial complexes of to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

The decision was taken to bring uniformity in Bhubaneswar's commercial sector and ensure proper repairs, maintenance and revenue collection out of those units. Most of these establishments belong either to the civic body or the development authority.

"Most shops and commercial complexes here are either controlled by the civic body or the authority. Few were under the general administration department. This created confusion, and so we decided to transfer all such properties to the urban development department," said an official of general administration department.

Once transferred, the civic body, under the ambit of the housing and urban development department, will take care of renewal and collection of license fees and rent from shops, shopping centres and commercial establishments in various parts of the city.

The corporation already controls the Bapuji Nagar Market, Poura Paika Bazaar at Unit-II, Unit-III Market, Unit-VI Market, BJB Nagar Market, VSS Nagar Market, Lingaraj Market at Old Town, Fruit Market at Ashok Nagar, BMC-Bhawani Mall at Saheed Nagar and BMC-Keshari Mall at Unit-I.

It generated Rs 8 crore on an average from these market complexes every financial year from rent and renewal of trade licences. Sources said the new additions would increase the revenue to about Rs 10 crore.

"The general administration department used to control most of the market complexes in the city. With the formation of the corporation, the properties have been steadily handed over to them. With the transfer of these facilities, all shops will now belong to the civic body," said a development department official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said transfer of the assets would not only lessen the burden on the general administration department, but also help officials manage the facilities better. "We have a separate division that handles the market sector. The transfer of assets will help us maintain good infrastructure," said Jena.