Preparatory Works For Men’s Hockey World Cup Gain Momentum In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: With seven months remaining for the ensuing Men’s Hockey World Cup-2018, the Odisha government has revved up the preparatory works for the mega event it is hosting for the first time.

The construction, expansion and renovations works in Kalinga Stadium are on full swing as per the time schedule. This was revealed during the 4^th Executive Committee Meeting presided over by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat here on Saturday.

Padhi asked the concerned departments to take adequate measures for ensuring fire safety and healthy food quality in the hotels where the players and team officials are scheduled to stay.

It was revealed that the reconstruction of the swimming complex inside the stadium has been completed and it will be given the finishing touch soon. The construction of new galleries and expansion of existing galleries for enhancing sitting capacity in the stadium are going in full swing.  The chief secretary directed to complete the work by end of May.

Besides, target was set to complete laying of two new turfs in the stadium by end of June while water filtration plant for both the pitches would be completed by end of May.

Construction and widening of internal roads, drain, food plaza and beautification of stadium are also going as per the schedule.

The chief secretary asked the concerned departments to prepare weekly work schedule and monitor the progress accordingly and complete the survey, undertaken for finalization of 10 acres of land from CDPO campus adjoining the stadium as parking place, within two days.

This apart, the Home and the Police departments were asked to make detail traffic movement plan keeping in view the convenience of the city dwellers and visitors. Padhi directed to issue traffic advisories well before commencement of the event so as to enable people to make their own movement plan. Further, it was decided to construct a foot over bridge near Kalinga stadium for uninterrupted traffic flow and convenience of the pedestrians.

It was also revealed that for accommodation of players and visitors, an inventory of 412 hotels in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri has been prepared. While 78 rooms of PSUs, technical colleges and corporation guest houses have also been identified, 8600 beds have been made available to Hockey India League (HIL) for online booking for the ensuing World Cup and other 103 hotels have also been identified and surveyed.

The Tourism department has initiated online booking facility for these hotels as well. The land allottees of newly coming up hotels on Bhubaneswar have been asked to complete their hotels before the World Cup and make it available for the visitors and guests.

City Infrastructure development and beautification works for the prestigious international event have been put on fast track. It has been decided to bring in 50 standard AC and 50 non-AC buses under City Bus Modernization plan. The projects for renovation and construction of bus depots at Patrapada, Patia and Pokhariput have also been finalized. It has been targeted to issue the letter of agreement by April 30. The chief secretary directed to complete the underground cabling of the road from Sishu Bhawan Square to Ram Mandir by October 30.

The meeting also took stock of the Wi-Fi network coverage which will be provided in all priority corridors with 75 locations and 300 access points before the World Cup. It was also decided to set up additional road side urinals and public toilets. So far, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already constructed 60 public toilets and 50 hybrid toilets across the city. It was decided to construct 60 more public toilets and 100 urinals.

It was also decided that the Bhubaneswar city festival would be organized during the World Cup. Events like heritage walk, patha utsav, music park, storytelling, folk-art, film festival and food bazaar would be organized in the city to give rich experiences to the visitors and the tourists.

The matches for the world cup would be played from November 28 to December 16. Each day two matches would be played from 5 pm onwards.

The quarter final would be played on December 12 and 13 while semi-final and final matches have been scheduled on December 15 and 16respectively.

Champion teams from 16 countries would participate in the mega event which would be played in 4 pools.

Argentina, New Zealand, Spain and France would be in Pool-A followed by Australia, England, Ireland and China in Pool-B, Belgium, India, Canada, and South Africa in Pool-C and Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia and Pakistan in Pool-D.

Additional chief secretary, Home Asit Kumar Tripathy, DGP Dr Rajendra Prasad Sharma, Principal Secretary, Finance Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Sports and Youth Services Vishal Kumar Dev, Secretary, Handloom & Textiles Subha Sharma, BMC Commissioner Krishan Kumar along with other senior officers from concerned departments were present.