By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 2, 2016 : Odisha government will soon form a ‘Smart City Company’ and appoint its head by the end of this month to ensure smooth implementation of various projects to make the city smart. Besides, it will form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to fund the projects.

Bhubaneswar topped the list of 20 proposed smart cities named by the Union government last month.

Executives from the Urban Development, Energy, IT and Works Department will be the directors of the company and experts from in and out of the state would be hired as independent directors, according to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Krishan Kumar.

“We had the first meeting on smart city today and we mainly discussed on the form and structure of the smart city company. We will start from the Bhubaneswar town – centre district and then work on the main city component (MCC) of the entire city. We are consulting with the project management consultants on this,” said Kumar speaking to reporters after the meeting.

The CEO and the Financial Officer will be recruited and work on the projects would begin from July.

Development of infrastructure, uninterrupted power supply, sanitation and waste management would be given priority in the first phase. Upliftment of slum dwellers, parking facilities and communication systems would also be enhanced.

The projects would be undertaken in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Master Canteen area, in the centre of the city, would be developed as the model district.

A sum of Rs 4500 crore is estimated to be required for the smart city programme in next five years. While the Union government would fund Rs 500 crore, the state government would fund Rs 500 crore on the project. Rest Rs 3500 crore would be taken as a loan from the World Bank.