BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday laid the foundation stone of the new state Assembly building integrated with a state-of-the-art Lok Seva Bhawan complex in the capital city, which would be constructed at a cost of Rs 3,623 crore.
Announcing the start of work on ambitious projects at a state-level function here, Majhi said the new Assembly building will be constructed to meet the state’s future legislative requirements. It will have a capacity to seat 300 members, he said.
“At present, the strength of the Odisha Legislative Assembly is 147. After the next delimitation exercise, the number is likely to increase to around 200. Therefore, we are constructing the new Assembly building keeping in mind the needs of the next 50 to 100 years,” Majhi told mediapersons.
He added that the expanded capacity is aimed at ensuring that the state’s governance infrastructure remains future-ready and capable of accommodating any rise in the number of elected representatives following population-based delimitation.
Works minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said that an integrated secretariat (Lok Seva Bhawan) complex will streamline administrative functions under a common campus and make governance more effective. The secretariat, presently, remains scattered and unplanned.
He said the development of the complex will be taken up in three phases. Phase-I will witness new secretariat-cum-mantralaya (3 basements+ ground+11 floors), new office building near Powerhouse Square (3B+G+11), Biparjaya Parichalana Bhawan (3B+G+11), service building (B+G+1) and allied infrastructure at an estimated cost of Rs 3,623 crore.
All the 12-storey buildings will have provision of 3-level underground parking.
It is has been planned to construct the new Lok Sabha Bhawan building over an area of 14.5 acres beside Kharvel Bhawan and OPEPA campus. This will house the offices of ministers and secretaries for 45 departments with dedicated floors for the chief minister, chief secretary and development commissioner. It has also been proposed to construct 12-storey Biparjaya Parichalana Bhawan (office complex for OSDMA) near Rajiv Bhawan.
In order to relocate the offices which are being demolished under phase-I, an office building of 3B+G+11 will be constructed near the Powerhouse Square in front of Nirman Soudha over an area of 1.71 acres. The plan is part of the full development of 71.13 acres as new Secretariat campus which would be developed in the second phase.
In the phase-II, the new Assembly building will be constructed with a basement, a ground floor and first floor along with an annexe building (3B+G+11), two service buildings (B+G+1) and a new office building beside Nirman Soudha campus (3B+G+11) along with allied infrastructure will be done at an estimated cost of Rs 1,470.44 crore.
The third phase will see future development comprising an annexe building for the Assembly (B+G+1) and allied infrastructure at an estimated cost of Rs 387.94 crore, Works department officials said.