Progress of City Bus service and modern Bus terminal projects in Berhampur reviewed by the Chief Minister

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the progress of several infrastructural projects currently under implementation in Berhampur (Click here to read the full document). The review included the city bus project planned for Greater Berhampur along with other projects such as development of a modern bus terminal, renovation and beautification of Ramlingam Tank, progress of three railway over-bridges inside Berhampur city, construction of NH-217 bypass, four-laning of the city roads, progress of solid-waste management project apart from several drinking water projects.

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More buses to provide services in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur

As a New Year gift, the state government has decided to augment city bus services in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur. A meeting in this regard was held on December 26.  While 48 buses - 15 standard and 33 mini buses- will be added to the fleet size on Bhubaneswar-Puri and Bhubaneswar city routes, city bus services (CBS), Berhampur, will have a fleet of 24 mini buses in the first phase. Besides, 12 air conditioned buses - six each on Cuttack-Puri viaBhubaneswar and Nandankanan-airport routes via Jayadev Vihar - will be run. The housing and urban development (H&UD) department will spend about Rs 15 crore for augmentation of the fleet of Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) and Rs 5 crore for CBS under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). At present, 105 buses ply inBhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda and Puri under the JNNURM scheme. As many 95 buses ply in Bhubaneswar alone.

Given the requirement of buses in the existing routes, the fleet size will be increased, said a senior officer of H&UD department. "BPTSL and Dream Team Sahara, which are looking after the operational part of the bus services, had given a proposal to increase the fleet size. Taking into consideration certain specifications, model and other parameters, it was decided to increase the fleet of buses," said the officer. The frequency of service, availability of present infrastructure and demand of the commuters were also taken in the account, he added. While each AC bus will cost around Rs 40 lakh, standard bus and mini bus will come for Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh respectively. For infrastructure development, Rs 2.12 crore has been set side. Sources said Nandankanan-airport route will have an improved frequency with buses available every 15 minutes. But the number of buses will remain the same. Khurda-Master canteen route will have six more mini buses at an interval of every 25 minutes, while four more buses will be added to the Kalpana square-Niladri Vihar and Biju Patnaik-AG square routes. Dumduma-VSS Nagar, Bidanasi-Master canteen and Sum hospital-Jagatpur routes will also have additional six buses. Five more buses will be run from Barmunda to Puri.

Official sources said Meghraj Capital Infrastructure Services, which is the transaction advisor for city bus services in Berhampur, will facilitate procurement of buses.

Source: Times of India

CM lays foundation stone for Tata Industrial Park and inaugurates STPI in Berhampur

Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur near Berhampur city 

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur today. Tata Steel managing Director H.M. Nerukar was also present while laying the foundation. Tata Group will start the project by setting up a Ferrochrome plant and a bar mill as anchor industries for the Industrial Park. The project is likely to be completed in two years time and provide employment opportunity to about 1000 people.

Berhampur city in Orissa gets country's 51st STPI

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, along with the Union minister for Communication and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, inaugurated the country's 51st Software Technology Park of India (STPI) at Ambapua, on the outskirts of Berhampur city, about 165 km away from here, on August 20.

"The STPI has built an ultra-modern IT infrastructure having fully furnished 10,000 sq ft built up space over an area of 5 acres at a cost of Rs 5 crore to nurture the need of local enterpreneurs and professionals to explore global opportunities in IT and ITES exports," said state IT minister Ramesh Majhi.

Speaking on the occasion,Pilot said that the Centre has provided Rs 292 crore to the Orissa government for IT related initiatives. He said that two IT pilot projects on rural health are now on in Orissa's Ganjam and Mayurbhanj districts.

Berhampur STPI is the thrid such centre in Orissa after Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. In July 2005, an MoU was signed between the state government and the STPI for setting up the centre in southern Orissa. The chief minister had laid the foundation stone for the project on December 13, 2006.