5-year plan to develop cities’ outskirts

Bhubaneswar: The state government will prepare a comprehensive five-year perspective plan for development of basic infrastructure in peri-urban areas (the localities immediately surrounding a city or town) of major urban local bodies (ULBs) in the state.
At a high-level meeting held here on Wednesday, chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra directed the departments of works, housing and urban development, rural development, water resources, panchayati raj and drinking water to prepare this comprehensive five-year perspective plan for the development of basic infrastructure in the peri-urban areas.
The departments were asked to make a detailed survey of the roads connecting the major ULBs and growth centres and prioritise those on the basis of traffic load. He also directed the officials to identify the missing intra-connecting links to create a road network in these areas. The departments were asked to work out the plan in about a month.
The chief secretary discussed the need for seamless communication between fast-moving urban centres with peri-urban areas. He said urban centres provide employment and livelihood opportunities to the people. Residents of surrounding areas mostly commute to the urban centres daily to attend offices, avail services, including education, medical facilities, land registration and court work. People also commute for vending, trade and commerce, he added.
Mahapatra said development of good road communication in the peri-urban areas will facilitate the traffic flow in and out of the towns. Provisions of quality water and power supply, market places and basic services in these areas will add to ease of living and enhance the satisfaction level of the people staying in these localities surrounding the city or town. It will also reduce housing burden on main urban centres, said the officer.
He also discussed in detail about cutting of roads for laying water pipes, sewer lines and underground cables in important urban centres.
The issues related to shifting of electric poles and substations for development of major junctions namely Rasulgarh Square, Kalpana Square, Ravi Talkies Square and Behera Sahi Chowk in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area were discussed in detail and resolved at the meeting.
At the meeting, development commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena directed that road cutting for laying of cables and pipes will be given by the road owning authorities concerned. The agency or department executing the work should restore the road to its original shape immediately after the work, he added.