BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Railways on Tuesday sanctioned new broad gauge line between Jeypore and Nabarangpur in Odisha. The project was announced in the 2016-17 budget.
The 38-km rail line is estimated to cost `747.91 crore and the project will be completed in three years. The project will be implemented on cost-sharing basis of 50 per cent each by the Railways and the State Government, official sources said.
The project is important for connecting Nabarangpur district with Jeypore, an existing station on Kottavalasa-Kirandul line. This line will provide connectivity to important towns, namely Koraput, Jeypore, Jagdalpur and Dantewada.
Further, the line is useful for connecting Nabarangpur with Junagarh in Kalahandi district and will result in short lead to many other places of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The Odisha Government will bear the entire cost of land. The proposed infrastructure project will boost the economic growth of the areas to be linked by way of transporting maize, rice, wheat, fertiliser, cement, wheat and other goods from the nearby villages en-route, the sources said.