Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had picked Rourkela among 26 others in the country under the Smart City Project way back in September, 2016. But 2.5 years down the line, very few projects in the smart city have been completed.
As per a statement tabled by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development in the state, while Rourkela has received a total of Rs 188 crore till now from the centre under the Smart City Mission but a large number of projects under the mission in the city are yet to be completed.
The response from the minister came to the fore when the BJP MLA in the Assembly, KV Singh Deo, asked details about the progress of the smart city projects in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar and the central assistance they received from the Centre.
In his detailed written response as furnished by the minister before the Assembly, only three projects have been completed in Rourkela until now. This is against the 25 total projects that were undertaken by the smart city under the scheme.
The only three projects that have been completed till now in Rourkela under the Smart City Mission include LED streetlights with a cost of Rs 3.75 crore and undertaken by the local municipal office, battery operated e-rickshaws with charging stations with an estimated cost of Rs 0.5 crore and the buses tracked via GPS system estimated at a cost of Rs 0.06 crore undertaken by the BSNL.
There are a number of projects where the project has reached to status of either tender floating or Detailed Project Report (DPR) formulation. Some of the ambitious projects in the state where it is still under tender stage include formation of the Integrated Command and Control Centre, Redevelopment of Birsa Munda Stadium. Those in the DPR stage included-Brahmani Riverfront Development, One Smart Bus Terminus, Upgradation of Panposh Market, Construction of Foot Over Bridges, rain water harvesting in public offices, affordable housing project and others.
Similarly when it comes to Bhubaneswar Smart City projects, merely 33 per cent of the projects out of the 15 projects undertaken have been completed so far while many are still hanging in balance.