The State Government on Thursday decided to recommend five cities to the Centre to bring them under the Smart City scheme.
The cities are Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Brahmapur and Sambalpur.
A decision to this effect was taken after the municipal corporation authorities of the five cities put forth their views before Chief Secretary GC Pati at a high-level steering committee meeting.
Bhubaneswar and Rourkela are ahead in the race as per the Smart City guidelines.
While the Capital city and the steel city have scored 70 points and 61.8 points, respectively, out of the total 100,
Brahmapur, Sambalpur and Cuttack have scored 60 points each.
The steering committee will submit the recommendation to the Centre by July 31.
Notably, the Centre Government has decided to select two cities from a State for giving assistance to develop them as Smart Cites.