JAGATSINGHPUR: A total of 957.149 acres, including 843.790 acres of private land, will soon be acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the proposed NH 55 which will link OMP Square in Cuttack with the upcoming Sajjan Jindal- led JSW steel industry site at Nuagaon of Erasama tehsil.
The district administration on Tuesday conducted a public consultation meeting here for the proposed NH 55 and six bypass roads presided over by Collector Yamini Sarangi.
In the meeting, it was stated that the NH will originate from OMP Square and end at the proposed JSW steel industry site at Nuagaon village through Kandarpur.
The length of the road would be 94.139 km of which 15.339 km will fall under Cuttack district and the rest 78.8 km under Jagatsinghpur. Total nine bridges and six by-passes will be constructed on the NH. The NHAI has assigned the design work of the NH and bypasses to Architectural consultancy, Bhubaneswar.
Managing director of the consultancy firm Rajesh Kumar Chaudhry said 957.149 acres, including 113.359 acres of government and 843.790 acres of private lands, will be acquired by the NHAI. Land acquisition process will start soon, he added.
This firm has identified six places for construction of the by-passes on the proposed NH. While a by-pass covering a length of 4.8 km will be constructed at Daleighai, another with 7.850 km will come up in Jagatsinghpur.
Similarly, bypasses will be constructed at Balikuda-Borikina-Kania- Ibrisingh stretch (18.350 km), Erasama-Japa-Bhuana stretch (4.650 km), Chatua (2.6 km) and Balitutha (1.8 km). A total of 40.230 km will be covered under the by-passes of the proposed NH. During the meeting, State Planning Board vice-chairman Bishnu Das, MPs Kulamani Samal and Ranjib Biswal and MLAs Chiranjib Biswal and Prasant
Muduli suggested construction of an over-bridge at Chapada level crossing of Cuttack-Paradip railway line to avert traffic jams. Among other issues, land acquisition, payment of compensation, traffic management during construction of the NH, channeling of water and toll collection were discussed.
NHAI executive engineer Ferozuddin Khan, senior design engineer Chandan Kumar Dey, district officials and elected representatives of different blocks were present.