Bhubaneswar, June 24: The state government is gearing up for a question and answer session on the status of smart city and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) projects with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow.
The Prime Minister will interact with the officials through video-conferencing from Pune and is set to launch various projects in the top 20 smart cities. The Union ministry of urban development had released the list of first 20 cities to be developed under the scheme in January.
The state government officials, including those from the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), are busy preparing their brief on the status of projects under these two schemes for the Prime Minister.
"We will interact with the Prime Minister tomorrow as part of the first anniversary of smart city scheme. We will brief him about the status of the smart city and the projects we have planned to execute in this financial year," said managing director of BSCL Krishan Kumar.
After featuring in the smart city list, the state capital decided to take up various development projects, the most important being development of Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (BTCD) between Bapuji Nagar and Satya Nagar. The city received the first instalment of Rs 200 crore from the Centre for execution of the project in March.
The city administration has also prepared four project reports on introducing modern traffic signalling system, railway multi-modal hub, establishment of Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre and a project called "I am Bhubaneswar". Sources said that tenders for two of these projects, including the modern traffic signalling system, has already been floated and contractors for them will be selected by July.
The city has also inked pacts with Singapore-based Urban Redevelopment Authority and Centre for Liveable Cities for effective implementation of the smart city project in Bhubaneswar. They have also roped in Netherlands-based Bernard van Leer Foundation to establish a dedicated child and family friendly smart city centre.
Germany was also roped in during April to extend support to a smart city project here. The German ministry of environment was included in the project to aid the administration in the projects related to urban mobility.
The managing director of BSCL told The Telegraph that they would execute nearly eight different projects under the smart city mission by the end of this financial year. "Tenders for project management consultant, modern traffic signalling system and urban knowledge centre have already been floated and contractors will be selected by the end of July," said Kumar.
Under the Amrut scheme, the BMC in January inked a pact with Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo) and Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board for execution of various development projects. Bhubaneswar got Rs 113 crore under the scheme to execute 17 parks and 38 water projects. It has also proposed to develop more green space and construct hybrid toilets.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said that foundation stone of two parks at Sailashri Vihar and Kanan Vihar would be laid tomorrow. "Housing and urban development minister will laid the foundation stone tomorrow. One more park at Niladri Vihar will be developed under the scheme this year," said Jena.
The Pheo has also come up with a dynamic plan under the scheme to ensure round-the-clock water supply to city households. It also proposed to provide free water supply with two taps to the slum dwellers. There are also plan to install water meters in every household and increase the per capita water supply from 135 litres per day to 155 litres per day.
Pheo sources said they had initiated the process to provide the increased amount of water to the residents. "Nearly five projects, including water reservoirs, have already been inaugurated which will ensure water supply to nearly 50,000 residents. More such projects will come up under Amrut scheme this year," said a Pheo official.
