Rourkela, June 26: A state-level high-powered committee, which is headed by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, has cleared the proposal for the city to enter the competition for a smart tag.
With the government's nod, the proposal can now be forwarded to the Centre for the next round of the smart city competition, which will be held shortly.
The Sundargarh district administration and Rourkela Municipal Corporation updated a detailed project report to develop the city's physical and social infrastructure for the national-level competition.
Rourkela will compete with 66 other cities to get the tag of a smart city. The project, which will be forwarded to the central government by the end of this month, envisages investments of around Rs 2,500 crore. The Centre is expected to provide Rs 500 crore, while the remaining Rs 2,000 crore will be arranged from the state government and other sources.
According to the new detailed project report, Rourkela's smart city plan has two main components - area-based development and pan-city development.
Among the important projects that have been proposed include a river front development at Panposh, connected neighbourhoods, 24x7 water supply, multi-utility citizen service along with children and senior citizen-friendly civic life.
It has also proposed a transport complex, development of smart corridor, development of core business and institutional area, entrepreneurship development, housing and social infrastructure.
Chief secretary Padhi has also advised the civic body to focus on convergence of various schemes and projects at ground level to maximise the outcomes.
Sundargarh collector B.S. Punia said: "We had made a very exhaustive report this time for presentation."
Former Rourkela Municipal Corporation commissioner Durga Prasad Mohapatra said the absence of an underground sewerage system was one of the reasons for its failure to make the first selection. However, chief minister Naveen Patnaik has since laid the foundation for a Rs 400-crore underground sewerage system to resolve the issue.