Growth plans for eight major cities

A report in Times of India

BHUBANESWAR: With urban centres in Orissa growing at a very fast rate, the state government has decided to prepare comprehensive development plans (CDPs) for eight major cities in the state. The cities include Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Talcher-Angul-Meramandali, Kalinga Nagar, Paradeep, Puri-Konark, Jharsuguda.

"The CDPs of these cities are in various stages of preparation and many more are in the pipeline. The CDPs would streamline the growth of the cities," said housing and urban development minister Badri Narayan Patra at a workshop on Urban development in Orissa, opportunities for growth' here on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said, "Migration has caused a shortage of housing and other basic services in urban areas. Moreover, the proliferation of slums in cities has become a major concern for the state government in the last few years. Orissa has been a pioneer in bringing reforms in urban planning and management. Along with various other reforms, the state government is coming up with a slum rehabilitation policy to make our cities slum free." The chief minister also awarded various urban local bodies for best practices in sectors like housing, water supply, sanitation, fund utilization and good governance. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation bagged the best performing corporation award among the three state corporations.

Housing and urban development secretary Sourav Garg said, "It is found that NACs are doing better than municipalities and municipalities are performing better than the municipal corporation. The workshop would discuss the best performances of different municipalities on untilisation of funds for infrastructure, poverty alleviation, sanitation and so on. We would discuss the challenges faced by the urban local bodies."

As per the 2001 census, 14 per cent of Orissa's population lived in urban areas, which has been projected to be 20 per cent in the 2011 census, posing a serious threat to urban centres, official sources said.

Growth plans for eight major cities - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Growth-plans-for-eight-major-cities/articleshow/7343600.cms#ixzz1C3qAai6t