By Bizodisha Bureau, January 28, 2016 : The Temple City of Bhubaneswar emerged as the top most smart city contest leaving behind Pune and Jaipur, according to the union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu’s announcement on Thursday.

It has renewed hopes of the city getting better infrastructure, assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation.

The mood of celebration touched chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who took to the Twitter to congratulate the residents of Bhubaneswar.

The Mayor here and senior officials of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) were flooded with congratulatory messages and calls with city clinching a score of 78.83 per cent to be followed by Pune and Jaipur with 77.42 per cent and 73.83 per cent, respectively.

“It is a proud moment for us. We have worked day and night and we are happy to have topped the list. I dedicate this victory to the residents of the city and my officials,” BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena told Bizodisha.com.

The city will get Rs 200 crore in the first year to begin the process of converting it into a smart entity and will receive Rs 100 crore each over the next three years. The BMC in December had approved a project cost of Rs 4,537.15 crore to make Bhubaneswar as a smart city. The draft proposal had been submitted to the smart city mission of the ministry of urban development.

The ambitious project will have two major components, according to the proposal prepared by the BMC. In the first phase, a Bhubaneswar Town Centre District on 985 acres for which an area from Bapuji Nagar to Satya Nagar has been identified for appropriate development. Improving urban mobility and better waste management will be the other component of the project.
The city administration will build cycle tracks along the town centre and will also open cycle rental centres in the area.

The city administration will spend Rs 4,094.89 crore to develop the town centre, while Rs 442.26 crore will be spent for better waste management and urban mobility.

Drinking water and sewerage facilities have already been taken up under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme. There is also a plan to roll out a fleet of 565 buses to connect all the 67 wards of the city, the administration is also promoting non-motorised mode of transport. The corporation has already started organising events such as Raahgiri to promote no-car days. Pedestrian-friendly traffic signals will also be introduced.

Safe refuse points are also likely to be introduced for female commuters. By pressing a particular button, those in need of help can inform police.

The city administration will also install at least five surveillance cameras at 26 major traffic junctions to check crime. An online parking ticket system will also be introduced at three multi-level parking lots here.