Bhubaneswar, Nov. 16: The Odisha government today received a shot in the arm as the state capital was declared one of the top 10 emerging cities in the country.
Cushman and Wakefield, touted as the world’s largest real estate services firm, along with Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management which deals with infrastructure area in future cities, have jointly identified Bhubaneswar among the “Top 10 Emerging Cities of India”.
The study took into consideration factors such as demographics, physical, social and real estate infrastructure, current level and scope of economic activities and government support and initiatives in determining the growth potential of the cities.
The report highlights availability of a pool of quality talent across disciplines and specialisations in Bhubaneswar, lowest electricity costs and significant presence of IT/ITeS sector as well as primary sector activities such as agriculture, mining and metal production as the key economic drivers of the state capital.
The power tariff for domestic consumption is Rs 2.20 for the first 100 units, considered quite low for an urban city. Though Bhubaneswar faces a lot of unscheduled power cuts, the government has promised that this problem would be solved soon. It has earmarked nearly Rs 1,000 crore for upgrading the existing power system.