Bhubaneswar: In a move to promote clean and green environment in Capital city, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has made it mandatory for all housing projects to provide infrastructure for non-motorised transport (NMT) at building and plot level.
As decided in the Building Plan Committee meeting of BDA, dedicated cycle tracks should be the integral part of planning. According to the guidelines, no housing project will get approval if it fails to provide the required infrastructure and commitment for promoting NMT, especially the Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) in building and plot level.
“All future housing projects and the ones which are currently waiting for the approval must have to provide enough infrastructure for implementing the NMT system as part of the initiative towards making Bhubaneswar a sustainable Smart City,” said BDA vice-chairman Prem Chandra Chaudhary.
According to Regulation 52 of BDA (Planning and Building Standards) Regulations, 2018, to promote and develop sustainable urban transport infrastructure, the authority, with prior approval of state government, may specify guidelines for prescribing standards of street design, setting up and operation of PBS programme, infrastructure at plot/project level to promote NMT transport and public transport, street improvement programme etc.
“Our purpose is to inculcate the passion for cycling into children and school students by providing them adequate and safe infrastructure in the area they live in as the millennials have almost forgotten cycling as a mode of transport. Therefore, all housing units in Bhubaneswar should give the highest priority to public transport, walking and non-motorised vehicles including cycle tracks that are accessible to almost everyone and have low impact on polluting environment,” Chaudhary added.
Notably, the BDA, BSCL and BMC have asked their employees, including the outsourced staff, to shun vehicles and come to office once a week on cycle or by walking in order to promote pollution free environment.