Naveen Congratulates Smart City Rourkela on Winning Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge 2021

Bhubaneswar/Rourkela: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has congratulated Smart City Rourkela on winning the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge 2021 from among the 600 participating global cities and the only city from India.

Congratulate @smartcityrkl on winning @BloombergDotOrg’s #MayorsChallenge from among the 600 participating global cities & the only city from India to win it. #Rourkela won the challenge by offering women entrepreneurs access to cold-storage to reduce food waste. #OdishaLeads https://t.co/9X33sglMl8

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) January 18, 2022

The steel city won the prestigious worldwide innovation competition for providing “cold-storage units to women co-ops to empower female food vendors, reduce food waste, and increase access to fresh foods.

Rourkela has been ranked among the Top 15 Cities of the world under the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge 2021, an international competition.
Earlier, the city was ranked among the top 50 cities in the world a few days ago by presenting an innovative project at such an international event.

Two Indian cities were in the final stages of the worldwide competition, with 630 proposals. Of the 50 major cities, Rourkela is the only city from India to rank among the Top 15 cities of the world. Rourkela will receive a $ 1 Million prize from Bloomberg Philanthropies, as well as technical assistance at various stages.
Rourkela has been ranked among the top 15 global cities following its submission of a proposal and pilot project implementation by the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC). As part of the challenge, a cold storage facility has been set up at the VSS Market in the heart of the city.

As a result, farmers, smallholders and fruit traders have been able to enhance their income by preserving their produce, and wastage has been prevented. In addition, fresh vegetables and fruits can be delivered to people’s doorsteps, especially in cases of coronary heart disease. All of this is being done by women in self-help groups. It has also improved their lifestyles.

Dr. Subhankar Mohaptra, Commissioner, Rourkela Municipal Corporation expressed his happiness after winning the challenge. Dr. Mohaptra told that Team from Rourkela Municipal Corporation, Koel Fresh Pvt Ltd , Research students and alumnus NIT Rourkela have shown commendable performance in the last 6 months. Through their efforts, our city has clinched the top 15 position in the world. We are extremely delighted and feel honoured to receive the prestigious Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Mayor Challenge 2021 award. Climate change solutions, women empowerment, social inclusion has been the core theme of this project and are the driving force towards strengthening the local economy during Covid and Post Covid scenario. The city has already been working in some of the areas like women empowerment through Self Help Group engagement, Solarization Rourkela and others. Such an award is going to escalate the sustainable development works on ground. In coming days, our team along with our external partners , Koel Fresh Pvt Limited , a start-up based out of NIT Rourkela would work extensively in enhancing livelihood of small vendors and members of women self help group. The project is also emphasized to help residents of Rourkela in getting their essential commodities like fruits, vegetables, dairy products to their door step in more effective manner. We are very much hopeful that such solution would be scaled up in various parts of India and Rourkela city would act as a role model for many other cities. We, thank the entire team from Bloomberg philanthropies for giving us such a wonderful platform to showcase our city’s potential.

“As the world works to address the profound public health and economic effects of the ongoing pandemic, cities can implement innovative ideas at a pace that national governments simply can’t match,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P. and 108th Mayor of New York City. “Our fifteen winners offer bold, achievable plans to improve health, reduce unemployment, empower women, and more. Collectively, they have the potential to improve millions of their residents’ lives – and the most successful solutions will inspire cities around the world to embrace them.”

The 15 winning cities will now enter a three-year implementation period with a $1 million grant and robust technical assistance. During this time, the cities will work diligently to evolve and scale their idea into a real-life program to improve residents’ lives. Cities will also work to share their ideas with additional cities around the world to enable these tested innovations to spread.

“The Mayors Challenge always pushes mayors to take big ideas and bring them to life and was vitally important as we emerged from the worst year of the pandemic” said James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Now these cities will pivot to the hard work ahead to implement these projects and collect lessons learned to help other cities adopt and spread their ideas.”

Notably, 99 countries from around the world took part in the Global Mayors Challenge held in June 2021. At a critical time such as the COVID pandemic, the competition focused on proposals from 630 cities on economic recovery and overall growth, health and welfare, climate and environment, and good governance and equality. Of these, 50 cities, including Rourkela, were finalists among proposals for innovative and modern projects. The list also included the city of Pune.

Expressing happiness, Sundargarh Collector Nikhil Pavan Kalyan said that the district administration strives to continue the efforts to bring effective livelihood opportunities.