The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated the development of a state-of-the-art wholesale vegetable market complex at Bhagabanpur to address a long-standing logistical bottleneck in the city. The project, budgeted at Rs 450 million (Rs 450 mn), will relocate the historic Unit-I wholesale operations to a nine point three six-acre site on the city outskirts, positioned strategically near National Highway-16 to reduce traffic congestion in the capital core. The move is intended to shift heavy transport activity away from central neighbourhoods and streamline supply chains.

The integrated trading hub will provide modern industrial infrastructure, including double-storey trading units with specialised industrial flooring and dedicated logistics facilities. The layout will incorporate loading bays, internal circulation roads and extensive truck parking zones to accommodate sustained freight movements. Utility services are planned to include solar power systems, energy-efficient lighting and rainwater harvesting structures to support operations and reduce environmental impact.

BMC has invited proposals for execution on a turnkey basis covering design, engineering, construction and a three-year maintenance period, with the engineering wing supervising the selected agency. City officials have set a completion target of two years from contract award. The relocation follows decades of operations at the cramped four-acre Unit-I site, which has hosted 49 wholesale vendors and seen over 200 daily truck movements since 1957.

The transition is expected to modernise vegetable distribution across Bhubaneswar while addressing sanitation and firefighting challenges linked to the central market. Incorporation of storm water drainage and fire detection systems is intended to ensure the facility meets international operational standards and improves resilience. By creating a logistics-oriented hub outside the city core, the project is designed to ease congestion and enhance regional connectivity for heavy vehicles.