Civic body plans to renovate, beautify 80 ponds in capital

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will renovate and beautify 80 waterbodies in the city, authorities said on Monday.
The city has altogether 115 waterbodies; of which, renovation work on 13 has been completed and work on eight is under way.
The renovation and beautification works include creation of inlets and outlets in the ponds, establishment of new embankments, repairment of old ones, installation of designer lights around the natural ponds, benches and creation of walkways along the embankment among other such facilities.
Besides, the civic body will take up de-silting work. It will initiate some bio-remedial measures to maintain the cleanliness of the pond water.
“We plan to construct approach roads to the ponds wherever people cannot easily access them. We will also create walkways and put up fences around the waterbodies. This will help protect the reservoirs as well. Around some of the big ponds, designer lighting structures will be installed to enhance the aesthetic look of the waterbodies,” said a BMC official.
The renovation work has already been completed in the major ponds like Jena Sahi Pokhari at Jharpada, Kapileswar, Jhara Pokhari at Jagamara, Baghua at Jadupur and Bada Pokhari and Namrakani Pokhari at Patrapada.
BMC city engineer Arun Kumar Nayak said funds for the ponds’ renovation work will be shared by the Odisha Urban Infrastructure Development Fund, the civic body’s ward fund, Smart City mission, City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain project and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation-II (Amrut-II).
“After compiling the list of the ponds to be renovated and making an estimate with requirement details, we will send a proposal to the state government, which will send it to the Centre to get the funds under Amrut-II. As of now, we are not sure how much funds would be sanctioned under Amrut-II and how many ponds could be renovated with that amount,” added Nayak.
The civic body officials said the city’s waterbodies are centuries old and they have been useful to the residents in cooling the periphery areas, especially in summer.
“Weeding will help maintain the ponds’ water quality. The renovation will be done in a scientific way to make the ponds sustainable,” the official added.