The Unit-VIII park, which is being renovated by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 24: The Unit-VIII park, which is being renovated by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), would be made accessible to the citizens from April.

The BDA had taken over the old park of the general administration department for renovation.

About Rs 30 lakh has already been spend on building jogging tracks, children’s play area, front gate, lighting arrangements and security room. The front parking lot, toilets, rain-shelters and renovation of the old quarters inside the park are yet to be done. This remaining work is estimated to cost around Rs 10 lakh.

The BDA authorities were ready with their renovation plan in 2010, but as the general administration department owned the land, the work could not start immediately. The permission came much later and the project got delayed.

After the tendering process got over, the work finally began in December 2011. However, the panchayat elections further delayed the work.

“We are going to finish all the work by March-end and by April, everyone will be free to use the park. It will have adequate parking facilities on its premises and there will be no traffic problems on the road in front of it,” said Ashok N. Dhar, chief horticulturist of the BDA.

The renovated park at Unit-VIII is a composite one in nature, which means it has all kinds of facilities. Besides landscaping and children’s play area, it has proper lighting, so that it people can use it both during the day and night.

“It will also have a jogging track and rain-shelters,” Dhar said.

“The development authority has spent the entire amount for the park’s renovation from its own funds and there was no public-private-partnership involved,” he added.

“Till the super cyclone in 1999, this park, maintained by the general administration department, was doing fine. The natural calamity ravaged the park. The pump stopped working properly, and when the Public Health Engineering Organisation officials arrived to fix this problem, the power distribution company disconnected the electricity line. Consequently, the park was closed down. There were three fountains and good landscaping in the area,” said Pradipta Kumar Rout, a gardener, posted at the park by the general administration department.

“The renovated park will be a nice place to hang out, especially for young adults and kids. They will get enough space for exercising and playing. I am happy that the park is being brought back to shape,” he added.

The new park with children’s play area will be the ninth such park to be maintained by the BDA. At present, the city has 51 big parks and plans are on to start 17 more. The BDA has already approached the general administration department to allot plots of land for the new parks.