Now, the denizens of the silk city have reasons to smile as the State Government has approved of the much awaited Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for formation of “Greater Brahmapur” taking Chhatrapur, Gopalpur, and other adjacent mouzas under its administrative, revenue and civic ambience.
The master plan was approved after 45 years of its initiation and scrutiny. A communication from the Department of Urban Development has already reached the offices of the Vice- Chairman of BDA and District Collector, Ganjam, sources said.
The public is quite hopeful that due to this approval, construction of the proposed and much needed Ring Road along with other infrastructural development projects in the region could become a reality soon.
According to information available, the geographical range of the CDP would be 320.61 sqkm comprising of the urban areas of all the three towns including 84.98 sqkm urban areas of Brahmapur city. According to the plan, the proposed “Greater Brahmapur” will comprise a total of 139 mouzas which include 49 mouzas of urban areas and the remaining 90 villages. In addition to Berhampur town, its nearby 18 mouzas, 5 mouzas adjacent to Gopalpur NAC town and 12 mouzas which are in adjacent areas of Chatrapur NAC have been included in the CDP, sources said.
Notably, suitable place for location of educational institutions, commercial establishments, residential zone, industrial zone, green zone, air port, roads, drainage system for the proposed “Greater Brahmapur” have been identified in the CDP. As a result, construction of residential houses, establishment of small industries and new projects would now become easier and hassle free, feel the experts.
The State exchequer has incurred expenditure to a tune of Rs 1.9 crore for approval of this CDP, while BDA has reportedly paid `67 lakh to Odisha Remote Sensing Agency for supply of required maps and blue prints.
It may be recalled here that an integrated development plan (IDP) for Brahmapur was prepared in 1969 and since then no other long term development plan for this heritage city has been drawn. The civic administration and the representatives though have been trying hard for a master plan for Brahmapur since 1993 by entrusting the responsibility of preparing a comprehensive and sustainable master plan for the city to different professional organisations, but they could not succeed in their efforts. Finally, in November, 2008, the task of preparing a comprehensive and feasible development plan (CDP) was entrusted to Town and Country Planning Organization (TCPO), an institution under the Union Urban Development Ministry, which submitted its draft plan in 2010 and accordingly, this plan was notified by the Government on July 7, 2014 inviting objections and suggestions if any. After acquiring the draft CDP report, Vice-Chairman of BDA-cum-District Collector Premchand Choudhury held several rounds of meetings with the officials of Urban Ministry, BDA, BMC and examined the plan threadbare along with its feasibility and possible constraints which the BDA and the district administration may incur during the course of its implementation.
After approval of the plan, now the locals are waiting to see how quickly the State Government releases a special grant to enable the Brahmapur Development Authority (BDA) and the district administration to start the construction work of the Ring Road, a truck terminal at Chatrapur, proposed new market complex at Ambapua, an educational hub, industrial zone and modern township etc under the plan. According to plan, a new airport will be built up near village lakshmipur on the outskirts of the city on 2,000 acres of land as identified in the CDP.