BHUBANESWAR:‘Lake Neutral’, the much-hyped artificial lake project of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) on natural stormwater channel 10 near Satya Nagar here has failed to receive the Centre’s nod owing to prolonged delay in submission of the plan and multiple changes to its design, resulting in a loss of around Rs 280 crore.
Sources in BSCL said the latest proposal for the development of the project at an estimated outlay of around Rs 79 crore submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) was rejected. Multiple changes to its design and administrative apathy over the years that caused inordinate delay in the submission of the project led to its rejection, revealed sources.
An official said the rejection has caused a potential loss of an additional Rs 200 crore, which the smart cities were being offered on completion of large-scale water bodies rejuvenation programmes under the Smart City Mission. “We came to know that some of the smart cities which have implemented such projects have received the funds for other such development works. Bhubaneswar, however, will now be deprived of it,” he said.
BSCL sources, meanwhile, said it has decided to proceed with the project utilising existing funds. The tender process has been initiated for the development of a portion of the natural drainage channel no 10, at an estimated cost of around Rs 10.63 crore The tender is expected to be finalised within a fortnight after which the project work will commence, a BSCL official said.
BSCL, in 2017, had planned to develop the Lake Neutral project on 38-acre land along channel no 10 at Janpath road for ecological restoration of the natural drain at an investment of Rs 63 crore. Accordingly, Egis India Consulting Engineers Private Limited was roped in as the consulting partner for the development of the project.
Though the project plan was readied in September 2017 and the tender invited in subsequent months, the project was put on hold owing to various reasons including delay in land acquisition, environmental clearances and multiple changes required in the design.
After the project remained a non-starter for around five years, BSCL in April 2022 announced to commence work partially on the south side of the natural drainage towards Satya Nagar engaging a Kolkata-based firm. The project, however, was put on hold again over changes required in its design.