By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 30, 2016 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday laid foundation of 50 drinking water projects scheduled to be built across 26 urban areas across the state.

In a function organised by the Housing & Urban Development Department at the Secretariat here, the Chief Minister also launched a web based GIS map portal ‘Bhubaneswar One’, aimed at facilitating all necessary information pertaining to location of public places and available public utilities in Bhubaneswar.

“Improvement if basic amenities and modernization of urban areas have always been our priority. To that end, several projects like drinking water and energy efficient lighting system were started today. I expect a timely completion, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

“That apart, the web based GIS map portal ‘Bhubaneswar One’ was also launched, which is the first such project in the entire country,” he added.

Already 200 drinking water projects have already been dedicated in the last two months and work has started to replace 500 kilometre long water pipes.

The government plans to spend Rs 152 crore to change the pipes and aims to complete the task by 2017 March. The project is expected to benefit 13 lakh people under 15 urban areas.

An agreement was also signed to modernize the lighting systems in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Rourkela and implement energy efficient street light systems.

Tripartite agreements were signed between Haalight-Neev Energy LLP consortium, Energy Efficient Service Limited (EESL) of Government of India and the municipal corporations on the occasion.