Bhubaneswar: The Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo) has decided to develop a separate website to ensure proper repair and maintenance of urban utility assets such as underground reservoirs, overhead tanks and pumping stations.

A technical expert had been hired to map and geo tag the utilities located in various parts of the capital city. At a recent meeting, the expert explained the process and loopholes while preparing an inventory and simultaneously a website for the service.

"We have decided to develop a web-enabled asset management system that will facilitate proper monitoring of the utilities. It will provide real-time information on any sabotage in the system and allow the officials to carry out repairs. The technical expert has already deployed for the job," said Pheo superintending engineer C.R. Jena.

During the meeting that held last week, the technical expert introduced different methods of mapping the urban utilities including using satellite imaging, aerial imaging and drone imaging. Discussions were also held for mapping of the sub-surface assets such as the water supply pipelines and sewage network.

Sources said for surface assets, the technical team will use all the three methods to ensure accuracy. In case of sub-surface assets, the existing map and the knowledge of underground pipelines and sewerage system will be used.

"We have discussed on the methods and will shortly come up with measures," said Jena.

Besides Bhubaneswar, eight other cities included under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme will also take similar steps to map their urban utility assets and build a website for their periodic as well as emergency maintenance.

"The discussions on the technicalities of the initiative are complete. Next, a request for proposal will be invited from potential bidders to start the mapping activities of the assets for all nine cities. Respective websites will be developed accordingly," said an official of urban development department.

"I hope the digital platform eases the job for the officials and improve the service delivery system for the residents. The manual maintenance is indeed very time consuming," said Patia resident Kiran Dash.