Bhubaneswar: In order to transform the urban landscape here, the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) board okayed the 'Smart Janpath' project along Vani Vihar-Sishu Bhawan square - the city's prime business corridor - for a better organised parking, pedestrian and vehicular movement, creation of recreation spaces and building complete streets for the city denizens. While work for the same commenced in April 2017, the project is still running behind the deadline because of tardy progress. The construction firm is yet to finish the Smart Janpath which was supposed to be over in 2 years.
Back in 2018 October, CM Naveen had also launched a common city payment card system - christened as 'Odyssey City Card' for BSCL to facilitate citizens avail a single payment option for their multi-purpose city-level use. However, the execution has become a subject of debate.
The urban planner has cited lack of proper planning as one of the reasons, while city denizens are still in the dark about ongoing projects.
"Fault lies in the design as well as in the implementation. Those who understand a city should run it for proper execution of all projects. Many programmes have been launched in the past, but most of them were limited to inauguration of events," said Urban Planner Piyush Raut.
Expressing similar views, Nisakar Sahu, a local said, "We want smart city to develop in all aspects, be it roads, proper drains or other infrastructural expansion. No doubt corona crisis has derailed some projects, but we are unable to see any progress because of proper planning."
President of Ekamra Janajagran Manch- Bhisma Narayan Nayak has said that the administration is trying to ruin the city in the name of development. "We cannot say Bhubaneswar has turned into a smart city in these five years, rather the smartness is vanishing. Not development, but destruction looks the agenda. Unless the government reviews the genuine problems of denizens, turning this into a smart city would get more complex," said Nayak.
On the other hand, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, Prem Chandra Choudhury acknowledged the fact that the projects have been delayed, but due to obvious reasons. "Close to 10-12 projects have been completed in the recent past. While work for five big projects is underway, there are some genuine reasons which have delayed their completion. The super cyclone, 2019 elections and Covid-induced lockdown, posed hindrance but work hasn't delayed much. By the next 4-5 months we will see the completion of the Janpath project," he said.
"Even today, there are many users of Odyssey cards, just there are some issues with the integration at several platforms. We are integrating it with the payment options of the BMC and that will be done soon," the BMC Commissioner added.
It is to be noted that the Smart Janpath project work was put on hold in July after a few staff and workers of the construction firm tested positive for coronavirus and were asked to stay in quarantine.
Smart Janpath is a pilot initiative on the 5.5 km stretch towards building complete streets in Bhubaneswar. It involves revamping of road design specifications and implementation of Complete Streets by reallocating ROW for equitable space for all users. Once completed, the project would be of great help to the residents as it will have a dedicated corridor for pedestrians and cyclists as well.
The entire stretch, which will be revamped under the project at an estimated cost of Rs 79.56 crore, shall have active public plazas, proper crossings on the junctions, street furniture and dedicated vending zones. For now, the city dwellers await to see the smart city getting smarter soon.
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