After the roll out of the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for Bhubaneswar prepared by IIT-Kharagpur, the draft CDPs of eight more urban areas in the state- Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Talcher-Angul-Meramandali, Kalinganagar, Paradeep, Puri-Konark and Jharsuguda have been prepared.
"The draft CDPs of eight more urban areas have been prepared. There is a need to review the progress of these CDPs given the increasing scale of urbanization in the state. Technical committee and Steering committee meetings need to be convened to expedite the process of approval of these CDPs”, said Saurabh Garg, secretary (housing & urban development).
He said, the urbanization rate was the highest for Tamil Nadu at 53 per cent followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra, the rate being 44 per cent in both the states. In Orissa, the rate of urbanization is 18 per cent and this is expected to reach 24 per cent by 2030.
Garg was speaking at a workshop on 'Urban Development in Orissa: Challenges and Opportunities”, organized by the administrative reforms wing of the general administration department and the department of housing & urban development.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “CDPs are under preparation for eight cities in order to enable planned development of these cities in the future. Similarly, under the scheme called Integrated Housing for Slum Development, construction of over 12000 dwelling units for slum dwellers in 28 cities are under implementation. City sanitation plans are also on the anvil for eight pilot cities with a vision to make them free from open defecation.”
"A Slum Improvement and Development policy is under preparation for addressing the basic needs of the urban poor for making Orissa a slum free state under the Rajiv Awas Yojana. We are making all efforts for augmenting resources from the Government of India and the different external funding agencies for taking up sewerage and water supply projects in different cities”, he added.
Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said, “There is a need for developing planned townships and satellite townships in the state. Moreover, we also need to offer basic amenities like sanitation and electricity for all the people living in the urban areas.”