Bhubaneshwar is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Orissa. Renowned German architect Otto Konigsberg designed the modern city of Bhubaneshwar in 1946. The city is also known as the “Temple City of India” as it contains a large number of Hindu temples.
Bhubaneshwar was essentially designed to be a residential city with outlying industrial areas. Until the 1990s, the city did not have any major investors and was dominated mainly by public sector units, small-scale manufacturing, and retail. Today, Bhubaneshwar is one of the preferred investment destinations in India.
Bhubaneshwar is ranked as the fifth fastest growing Indian city in terms of real estate. It has the holy cities of Puri and Konark and attracts many pilgrims and tourists every year.
transport infrastructure
Bhubaneshwar has well-developed roads and is home to the headquarters of the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC). Even the East Coast Railway headquarters is located in Bhubaneshwar. Through daily, passenger and weekly express trains, it is connected to major Indian cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Gwalior, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bhopal, Jaipur and Ujjain.
Bhubaneshwar is also home to Orissa’s only domestic airport, Biju Patnaik Airport, also called Bhubaneshwar Airport. It has regular flights to all major Indian destinations.
Economy
Bhubaneshwar has become one of the fastest developing IT and semiconductor hubs in India. The state government has encouraged IT growth in Bhubaneshwar by building IT parks like Infocity 1 and the new Infocity 2. Info City was conceptualized as a 5-star IT park, as per the Export Promotion Industrial Parks Scheme (EPIP).
Bhubaneshwar is also home to renowned IT companies like Satyam Computer Services Ltd. and Infosys, which have been in Bhubaneshwar since 1996-97. In February 2008, another esteemed company, Wipro, started its operations in Bhubaneshwar. This state also got extraordinary distinction for being the first city to be home to India’s top four IT companies namely Infosys, TCS, Mahindra Satyam and Wipro.
In addition, it has also attracted foreign companies such as Nehawk (Finnish Telecommunication Company), IBM, Robert Bosch and Gennum Corporation (Canada).
Future plans for the city
The Vision 2030 and Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) framed by IIT Kharagpur Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, envisions the integration of two large cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar into a single 720 square meter building. Urban Complex Km.
This Vision 2030 aims to transform Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar into a world-class urban center to create attractive investment opportunities from domestic and foreign sources.
The Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) strives to create premium textile parks and town centers in the Bhubaneswar – Cuttack urban complex. It also contemplates promoting intraregional mass transportation networks through better air and rail connections. It also aims to promote tourism through movie city projects, theme parks, and travel circuits such as art villages, nature trails, and Palace-on-Wheels.
The CDP has also suggested the creation of thematic cities in the lines of education, health and software. A Special Tourist Park is also expected to facilitate tourism in the Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark Corridor.
By attracting a talent pool of around 50,000 general graduates and 20,000 technically skilled in Orissa, the city aims to export approx. $1 billion for 2011-2012.