A team of three mentors comprising international experts Alfred Peter and Jean-Baptiste Peter and domestic expert Seetha Raghupathy, selected by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), have visited the city for better implementation of the City Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) Project.
During its five-day stay, the team will discuss the CITIIS project with the officials of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL).
On Monday, the BSCL General Manager (Administration) Saroj Kumar Swain explained the project in detail and the team undertook site visits to various proposed project locations.
The CITIIS is all set to make the Temple City a better place with B-Active (Be-Active/Bhubaneswar Active) project. It would maximize the use of the city’s public places like parks, streets, waterways, heritage temple precincts and school playgrounds to provide opportunities for equitable recreation and promote healthy activities for all citizens.
BSCL has already received Rs 79.3 crore for the implementation of the B-Active Project.
Launched in July 2018, the CITIIS programme also aims to foster sustainable, innovative and participatory approaches to build projects within the Smart City Mission. Under the programme, 15 projects were selected through a challenge process from 67 Smart Cities out of 100 such cities across the nation.
Thus, Bhubaneswar is a part of a unique experimentation laboratory that will highlight and address specific issues faced by SPVs across India in introducing innovative approaches for developing Public Open Spaces.
Besides financial assistance, selected Smart City SPVs will be provided technical support in the form of tailor-made mentorship (expertise), over a period of three years. This support is managed and coordinated by a Programme Management Unit (PMU) at NIUA in New Delhi. The CITIIS is financed by the French Development Agency and the European Union.