Biju Patnaik Udyan at Markat Nagar on the southwestern fringe of Cuttack city. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Feb. 26: The six-month-long wait of the Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) to develop the 36.5acre Biju Patnaik Udyan into a tourist spot by leasing it out to a private party is far from over.

The lease move was aimed at skirting the high cost involved in maintaining the park.

Orissa High Court has refused to modify its order imposing restrictions on development of the park by licensing it out on maintain-build-operate and transfer (MBOT) basis till the plan, finalised bid and terms of the agreement is put through judicial scrutiny.

The CDA had planned to create an amusement facility comprising a snow park, a ghost park and a rain forest by leasing the park on MBOT basis for 30 years.

The park will also have amusement equipment and food plazas. While the empowered committee on infrastructure under the chief secretary had cleared the plan, along with the bid finalised in favour of a private company, signing of the licensing agreement by CDA was stalled because of the stay. Responding to a PIL filed by Dharmesh Nayak, a former municipal councillor, the high court had issued the interim stay order on August 11 last year.

The petition sought quashing of the finalised bid and direction to the state government to convert it “into a model park” without handing it over to any private party.

The development authority had filed a petition seeking vacating of the stay order on the ground that the project had been cleared by the state government’s empowered committee on infrastructure.

Besides, maintenance of the park spread over such a vast area, especially the gardens, lawns, hedges, flowerbeds, pathways, and others entailed heavy expenditure, which is not permissible under the Orissa Development Authority Act.

The plan for renovation and maintenance of the park on maintain-build-operate and transfer basis for 30 years on license fee was drawn up to tide over the problem, the CDA had pleaded.

But on Wednesday, the high court called for the records related to the leash plan drawn up for the park in Sector 12 of Markatnagar. The division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra directed the CDA to submit all records related to the project, including clearance from the government and the licensing agreement plan. The court will hear the plea after one week.

A CDA official said: “The annual maintenance cost of the park has been a whopping Rs 81 lakh, including Rs 8 lakh which the authority pays towards annual rent to the revenue department as the park is still in acquired category.”

“The licensing agreement plan provided payment of annual license fee of Rs 8.40 lakh by the private party in addition to developing it into a tourist spot as per CDA’s plan within two years,” the official said.