The under-construction road from Damana Square to Gadakana will provide better connectivity to the residents of an upcoming housing society. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 14: A 1.3km road from Damana Square to Gadakana being constructed by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) at a cost of Rs 3.20 crore aims to help more than 10,000 people of ward No. 7.

The primary plan is to provide better connectivity to the residents of the soon-to-be-completed Netaji Subhash Enclave in Gadakana with 304 dwelling units in higher income group (HIG) and HIG deluxe categories.

The road is also a crucial link to a 25.5-acre prime housing area where the BDA is going to develop more than 2,000 housing units.

The BDA has already reclaimed the 25.5 acre land from the unauthorised occupants after building 192 houses for the urban poor.

The BDA has already started the initial process of developing the area under the public-private partnership mode.

The new road, for which construction has already been started, will be the major connecting link for upcoming housing projects, which will house more than one lakh people.

“Including all the areas under the ward such as Gadakana, Rangamatia, Mancheswar Carriage Workshop and adjoining localities, the master plan road under construction will help a population of around 1.25 lakh within a decade,” said a senior engineer of BDA.

“The work will be finished within six months as per the agreement signed with the executing agency. The entire stretch of the road will have four lanes and two drains on both sides. Also, there will be a median in the middle. However, the present plan has not yet included the cost of lighting and it will be decided later,” added the engineer.

Madan Majhi, councillor of ward No. 7, added that apart from the two BDA-sponsored mega housing projects, many private builders are also eyeing the area.

“The new master plan road by BDA will thus provide better connectivity to the entire region and connect it to the outside world as it was not well connected despite being integral to the growing city area under the comprehensive development plan,” said Majhi.

Purnachandra Sahoo, local resident of ward No. 7 and a retired government servant, said: “The master plan road will benefit parts of Chandrasekharpur, Damana and Gadakana mouzas. The structure will be the new tool in development process, since, except the railway carriage workshop, nothing prominent was there in our locality to feel good about.”

Another senior officer of the BDA added that the reclamation of the 25.5 acres from the unauthorised occupants through the basic services for urban poor scheme (under construction) would get a boost through addition of the new master plan road.

“The project is like a litmus test for the development process in the housing sector as the urban poor will be rehabilitated while the land will be available for fulfilling the housing needs. Later, in other slums and urban poor settlements BDA will try to implement the results of this experiment,” added the officer.