Cuttack: The civic body will come up with a recreation zone by developing the Chandan Pokhari area adjacent to the Town Hall near Choudhury Bazar.

Chandan Pokhari, an old tank sprawling over around 75,300sqft, belongs to the Cuttack Municipal Corporation. Local people use the tank for one week in a year on the occasion of Chandan Yatra. During summer, deities of local temple are given a boat ride here.

Municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra on Thursday said the civic body would turn the area into an amusement park under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme. "We have planned to utilise the area for a snacks hub and a coffee corner as part of a plan to rejuvenate the Chandan Pokhari," Mohapatra said.

The corporation plans to spend Rs 40 lakh on the project. "Allocation of Rs 10 lakh has been made for it in our budget for the 2018-19 fiscal," he said.

Official sources said a recreation park consisting of a snacks hub and a coffee corner had been planned in the first phase with fibre-glass kiosks, sitting benches, decorative furniture and lighting arrangements on the tank premises. In the second phase, the revival of the swimming tank will be taken up by restoring the existing infrastructure for swimming activities, sources said.

In 1995, the civic body had developed it into a swimming tank with all required infrastructure, according to the standard norms for swimming practice.

But, it has since remained unused. Officials conceded that paucity of funds had posed a hindrance in developing the tank.

Its existing infrastructure includes a swimming tank with seating gallery, lavatory facilities and a recreation hall, along with a surrounding garden with lawn and paved space.