[sustran] In Bhubhaneshwar -- Cycles to drive new plan

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150303/jsp/odisha/story_6507.jsp#.VRYikvmUfVI


Cycles to drive new plan  - BDA mulls design changeBibhuti Barik

*(Top)* People walk on the cycle track near XIMB Square in Bhubaneswar and
an architect's impression of the front facade of the proposed multi-storey
facility near the railway station. *Telegraph pictures*

Bhubaneswar, March 2: The development authority seeks to do away with flaws
in urban designs as it plans for a people-centric transport system with
greater focus on facilities for pedestrian movement and cycle tracks.

If IBI, the urban planning consultant for Bhubaneswar Development Authority
(BDA), has its way then pedestrians and cyclists will now have better
facilities for them.

The blue print of IBI for the city for the coming 20 years talks of
transit-oriented development and it will be first used while developing a
12-acre BDA land near the railway station in Ashok Nagar.

The plan will be replicated at other places depending on its success.

BDA vice-chairman Krishan Kumar said: "Infrastructure orientation will now
be to pedal transport like bicycles. It is for ensuring better safety of
pedestrians, which is a necessary condition for a city to be recognised as
a smart city."

"In the past, all the roads in the city were designed for cars or machines
and very little attention was given to pedestrians and cyclists, but now we
want to make it inclusive and for that reason, the previously conceived
flyover project at Master Canteen Square has also been shelved. At Rajmahal
Square, a badly designed flyover has already created problems for
pedestrians," said senior urban planner-cum-designer Bankim Kalra of the
IBI.

"As transit-oriented development will have efficient public transport and
for that density of population is also a parameter, the area near the
station will have 20-storeyed structures involving retail, office,
residential flats, convention and hotel so that the people can access all
facilities walking around or by using their cycles," Kalra said.

Giving an example of design of some metro stations in New Delhi, where
access to city buses, taxis and autorickshaws for local movement is grossly
inadequate, the urban planning expert saidBhubaneswar was also moving
towards a similar complex urban situation.

The IBI, a leading urban development design consultant of Canada, has
submitted its final design of the 12-acre area near the railway station
where high-density urban development with an investment plan of nearly Rs
1,100 crore is under way.

"The entire stretch from Utkal University Square to Sishu Bhawan Square
will gradually be transformed into a high-density square with more
high-rise buildings and efficient public transport with bus rapid transport
corridor passing through it. It will be later replicated in areas such as
Gothapatna and Chandrasekharpur," said planning consultant to BDA Prashant
Patnaik.

Ashrujit Mohanty, an active member of the group, said: "We all ride
bicycles. At present the city has around 2.5 to 3 lakh bicycles, but hardly
one lakh is on the road as many are not using them due to lack of dedicated
corridor or safety."

"If safe dedicated corridors are developed then more and more people will
take out their bicycles, which are gathering dusts in many homes," Mohanty
said.

Kalra, who spoke to *The Telegraph* on the sidelines of a workshop on
transit-oriented development, said: "In the current development plan
cyclists were neglected, but now it will be pro-people and machines or cars
will be our least priority and cycles on the top.