Bhubaneswar: The development authority has begun the process to get an executor for the Bhubaneswar Town Centre project at Master Canteen Square under the Smart Cities Mission.
The Bhubaneswar Development Authority has issued an expression of interest and invited bidders, who will be selected through international bidding. The authority will receive the proposals till January 12, and the project executor will be selected by the end of January.
On December 20, the authority entered into an agreement with Jurong Consultancy India Limited, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Surbana Jurong, for making the final design for the project, which will see an all-round development of the railway station area.
"The project design will be ready by the first fortnight of January. We don't want to make any delay in the project since we have decided to start working on its various aspects simultaneously," said an authority official.
The project will be executed for Rs 845 crore. Sources said Jurong, which had started working on the project, submitted two types of design briefs to the authority. Experts will examine those and select one for implementation.
Describing case studies of iconic buildings across the world, Jurong has given a detailed report covering important iconic structures, including civic amenities and multi-modal hubs, in cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Bangkok, so that several design elements could be followed.
"It is one of the priority projects of the city, and we want to work rigorously for timely execution of it. The railway station is the gateway to the city, and it will be developed in a manner, so that it would give a better impression to the outsiders. It would be the first transit-oriented development project of the state," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
The project will have elements such as theatre plaza, retail and malls, nature plaza, landscape, town plaza, art plaza, experience plaza and children's plaza. This will also have food courts, service apartments, along with dedicated paths for pedestrians and cyclists.
