BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday signed an MoU with IIT-Roorkee to prepare a comprehensive storm water management plan and a detailed project report (DPR) to tackle issues of urban deluge and waterlogging in the capital city during monsoon.
Housing and Urban Development minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra, who joined the MoU signing programme at BMC headquarters here, said the master plan will be prepared as a vision-2050 document for the city.
Mahapatra said the flood and storm water issue affecting people’s lives in the city during torrential rain has emerged as a major challenge for the government. “Waterlogging, which sometimes lasts for hours in low-lying areas even disrupts traffic. To address these challenges, the BMC has roped in IIT-Roorkee to utilise their expertise in preparing the master plan and DPR for a climate-smart drainage system for effective management of urban flooding in the city,” he said.
The H&UD minister said IIT-Kharagpur had carried out a drainage study of Bhubaneswar few years back and suggested the need for a greater master plan as the city is fast-expanding.
“Over the years, urbanisation, construction of roads and flyovers and the hydrological regime of the state capital has drastically changed. The comprehensive storm water master plan and the DPR are expected to keep the city in complete readiness to meet any such eventualities in future,” he said.
Mayor Sulochana Das said IIT-Roorkee will prepare the storm water master plan and DPR in a holistic manner to offer an integrated solution to stormwater management in the entire city covering approximately 256 sq km area, by next one year.
The institute will prepare a short-term plan along with a long-term master plan based on the data related to projected land use, population and the hydro-climatology up to 2040 as prescribed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Satellite map and advanced technology will be used by the institute for the purpose.