Rourkela, Sept. 22: The civic body, the nodal agency to execute the Smart City Project here, has identified some key areas where work will begin shortly.

Some basic civic amenities, meant to give quality living to the people of the city, will be taken up as part of the projects.

Along with the earmarked smart city area, the projects will be extended to other parts of the city as well.

The priority areas are underground sewerage and drainage system, solid waste management, round-the-clock water supply, plantation and electric crematorium.

"The survey for these projects has also been extended to Koelnagar and Shaktinagar, along with the core smart city area," Rourkela Municipal Corporation commissioner Akhaya Mallick told The Telegraph. He said the tendering process was over and a work order for the projects would shortly be issued.

Mallick, however, admitted that the establishment of a solid waste management plant was a big challenge for them. "It is a challenge both for the civic body and the Rourkela Steel Plant to complete the project, as this is one of the key requisites of the Smart City Project," he said.

"We did plantation this year. But from the next year, we will take it up more vigorously," said Mallick.

The corporation is also working to enhance the city's sanitation standards under the Swachh Bharat campaign.

The civic body is in discussion with Vodafone to install the global positioning system in garbage-dumping vehicles to ensure proper monitoring of solid waste disposal. The core area of the Smart City Project, a 26sqkm area between Bisra Chowk and Panposh Chowk, will be developed in a phased manner.

Areas surrounding Rourkela railway station and the bus stand would first be taken up for development, while other areas such as the stretch from Madhusudan Chowk to Nala Road will be taken up later. The areas will be monitored through closed-circuit television cameras.

The civic body's e-library would be inaugurated by December. The tender for the Rs 2 crore crematorium project at Vedvyas is already over, while work has begun on a tribal culture library near Vedvyas.