IFC, BSCL to forge partnership for Bhubaneswar smart city project

Bhubaneswar had emerged as numero uno among 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge held last year

Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), the special purpose vehicle (SPV) for Bhubaneswar smart city project, is set to forge a partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG). Through this partnership, BSCL hopes to transform Odisha's capital into a smart city.

Bhubaneswar had emerged as the numero uno among the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge held last year.

"We had proposed to partner with IFC to make Bhubaneswar a smart city. The basic objective was that IFC will play the role of technical transaction advisor for the projects to be developed in public-private partnership (PPP) mode," said an official of the BSCL.

More importantly, IFC will help us in developing an ideal institutional financing model for smart city SPV that will enable the projects to get viable financing and guide projects to develop bankability for attracting finances, he added.

It may be noted that the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance has informed the Odisha government that the proposal for the IFC's partnership with BSCL for the development of Bhubaneswar as a smart city will be considered in the 74th screening committee meeting of the department.

Sources said that IFC will support BSCL in the area of housing projects to be undertaken in PPP mode at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore.

"We are hopeful that our proposal will be accepted at the meeting scheduled in New Delhi on August 21," he added.

The smart city proposal of the city comprises two components — an area-based proposal for the development of Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (BTCD) and a pan-city proposal for Intelligent City Operations and Management Centre (ICOMC).

The BTCD plans to retrofit and redevelop 985 acres centred around the main railway station in the heart of the city to a vibrant 24x7 destination. ICOMC will provide a digital platform for integrating multiple city sub-systems of traffic management, parking, bus operations, common fare card, emergency response, and city incident management along with seamless integration of BTCD's utility operation requirement.

The smart city proposal estimates total project costs at Rs 4,537 crore, including Rs 4,095 crore for BTCD and Rs 442 crore for ICOMC.