The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has selected Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (Asian) as the preferred bidder for the Healthcare Network PPP project to be developed in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state of Odisha (India).

At present the BMC manages the 108-beded MCH near Lingaraj temple in the Old Town area. The new Healthcare Network project involves:

• Greenfield hospital to be located at Mauza Gadakana with at least a 300 bed capacity;
• Existing satellite dispensary at Kapilaprasad to be upgraded to a secondary hospital with at
• least a 100 bed capacity;
• Dispensaries at Bramheswar Patna, Rasulgarh and Gadakana to be upgraded to primary and secondary hospitals, each with at least a 30 bed capacity; and
• Dispensary located at Bharatpur to be upgraded to a primary hospital with at least a 10 bed capacity.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The request for proposals was issued on 28 September 2013. BMC appointed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for assistance in structuring the PPP project.

The total investment is estimated at  Rs2 billion (US$33.33 million). Financial closure is expected to be achieved in a month.

Srimanta Mishra, PPP and joint venture officer of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, stated:

Our adviser in setting up of the project, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has selected Asian, which will establish the hospital and upgrade the dispensaries to house 700 beds. As many as 188 beds will be free for the people from below poverty line families.

Bhubaneswar City has a population of approximately 880,000. The modern city was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. Along with Jamshedpur and Chandigarh, it was one of modern India's first planned cities.