Rs 1,000 crore Corpus Fund mooted for development of Odisha’s capital city

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Aug 6:

In order to implement provisions of the comprehensive development plan (CDP) around the capital city, the Housing and Urban Development department of the Odisha government has proposed a Corpus Fund of Rs 1,000 crore for the development of infrastructure facilities in Bhubaneswar.

The Corpus Fund will be raised under State Capital Region Development Fund that will supplement the normal expenditure of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).

“We have proposed a Corpus Fund of Rs 1,000 crore for infrastructure development in the city. The Fund will supplement the normal expenditure and also help the execution of infrastructure projects such as storm water drainage, master plan roads, low-cost housing, slum development and beautification drives,” secretary in-charge of Housing and Urban Development Deoranjan Kumar Singh told media persons here soon after his discussion with the chief secretary over the proposed fund .

He, however, said the approval of the Odisha government is needed to execute the plan.

According to the plan, BDA will manage the Fund, while entities such as the Public Works department, Public Health Engineering organisation, and Central Electricity Supply Utility will execute the projects.

BDA vice-chairman Dr Krishan Kumar said people will benefit immensely from the Fund as the execution of infrastructure projects will become easier and dependence on budgetary allocation will be minimal.

According to a BDA official, proceedings from auctioning of government land in the city will now be diverted to the Fund. Seventy-five per cent of the premium paid to the authority for developing public-private-partnership projects will also come to the Fund. There is also a proposal that in the near future, the state government will specifically assign lands to the BDA for raising money for the Corpus Fund.

However, the Fund will supplement resources available for various urban infrastructure projects. It cannot be used as substitute to funds and grants available under schemes and projects run by the state government and the Centre.

Sources said the Revenue and Disaster Mitigation department is likely to earmark about 50 acres near the city to help raise the Fund. Sources said that small plots near colonies allotted to the general administration department would also be surveyed and assigned to the BDA so that it can raise resources through auction.

Similarly, land available on the city outskirts and fringes will be allotted to the BDA for the fund generation, sources in the BDA said.