ANGUL: Four lane work of the 112 km Cuttack-Angul section of NH-55 will be completed by April this year, while the 150 km Angul-Sambalpur stretch under the project has already been completed and opened to traffic. This was informed by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari to a question raised by Dhenkanal MP Rudra Narayan Pani in Lok Sabha.
Gadkari said the Cuttack-Angul-Sambalpur section of NH-55 is being implemented in three packages. Package-1 includes Cuttack to Dhenkanal, while Package-2 includes Dhenkanal to Angul and Package-3 includes Angul to Sambalpur.
The Union minister said that packages 1 and 2 are in progress with revised completion dates set for the end of March and April respectively. Acknowledging the delay in the implementation of the four-laning project between Cuttack and Sambalpur he said,
“The projects were awarded during 2017-18 with a completion period of 2.5 years. However, work has been delayed due to various reasons such as delay in land acquisition, forest clearance, COVID-19 and financial crisis of the contractor.”
The minister assured that monitoring of all project packages, including financial aspects is being carried out by the ministry to expedite progress, ensure timely completion, and minimise public inconvenience. This process involves regular review meetings at various levels with all stake holders, including the state government.