Bhubaneswar: In a bid to give a boost to the recreational facilities in the Capital city, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has decided to construct three new parks with an expenditure of Rs 87 lakh.
As per sources, the BDA has invited tenders from bidders to set up the parks at three locations – Kalinga Nagar, Dumduma Housing Board Colony and Laxmisagar. While construction at Kalinga Nagar is estimated to be Rs 15.42 lakh, the Dumduma and Laxmisagar projects are set to cost the development authority Rs 29.27 lakh and Rs 42.71 lakh respectively.
“Tenders have been invited from interested parties for construction of these three parks. The deadline for completion of the projects is 60 days from the date of commencement of the construction works. The parks will have state-of-art facilities such as open gymnasium, jogging tracks and rainwater harvesting facilities. The entire process including the finalisation of tenders is expected to be completed within a year,” said a BDA official.
It can be mentioned here that there are more than 120 parks in the city. While BDA has about 57 parks under its management, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) takes care of 63 parks. About 10 bigger parks such as Biju Patnaik, Indra Gandhi and Madusudhan Das parks are directly managed by the BDA while BMC handles caretaking of smaller parks in the city.
Sources said that the move has come against the backdrop of city’s recent rankings in Most Livable Cities. As per the study by the Centre for Science and Environment, the Smart City which had featured fourth in list was ahead of the cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Amongst different parameters, the study rates cities as per their recreational facilities provided to its citizens.
“We are aiming to further improve our rankings in next round of the survey. Thus, we have geared up to enhance the image of the city by providing more space and greenery. While much of our plans are also parts of Smart City initiatives, more such projects will be initiated to create recreational facilities,” the official added.