Leveraging Bhubaneswar's Smart City Model for Urban Development in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: As the state government intensifies its focus on urban development as part of its vision of a developed Odisha by 2036, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has advised that the successful lessons of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Mission be replicated across smaller towns. This initiative aims to strengthen technology adoption, GIS-based town planning, integrated command-and-control systems, and real-time monitoring.
Sources said the PMO has recommended that Odisha pursue a holistic urban development strategy with planning reforms, municipal financing mechanisms, capacity-building, and environmental safeguards to ensure that cities remain sustainable, resilient, and liveable.
The recommendations, accessed by The New Indian Express, were sent to Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja for efficient service delivery and better governance after the Prime Minister’s advisor, Tarun Kapoor, visited Odisha in August last week. Reliable digital infrastructure has been flagged as a key prerequisite for attracting IT, semiconductor, and electronics manufacturing investments in and around Bhubaneswar and adjoining districts where the state is making rapid progress in terms of industrialisation.
The state has set a target to increase urbanisation from the current 17 per cent to 40 per cent by 2036 and 60 per cent by 2047 by transforming eight cities around industrial clusters, including Angul, Balangir, Bhadrak, Kalinganagar, Keonjhar, Baripada, Rayagada, and Rourkela. A ‘liveable cities mission’ has been planned to improve the quality of life in 45 towns with populations over 25,000, with the support of corporate investments for infrastructure development.
The PMO emphasised the need for enhanced inter-departmental coordination, particularly among the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Housing and Urban Development department, and environment authorities to avoid execution delays and ensure seamless development planning. The recommendations also called for convergence of central schemes to bolster solar energy, green hydrogen, and waste-to-energy projects, while strengthening water resource management and encouraging optimal use of local materials and renewable resources.
Recognising the state’s initial progress in green hydrogen, the Centre has also offered to support it in accelerating hydrogen-based industrial transition. The state government has been asked to prioritise the resolution of accessibility gaps with roads and telecom connectivity, lack of which are affecting the rollout of welfare schemes in remote areas.
