Odisha government provides Rs 4265 crores for construction of roads and bridges

As part of the state government's thrust of development road infrastructure in Odisha, Rs 4265 crore has been provided to the works department.

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BHUBANESHWAR: As part of the state government's thrust of development road infrastructure in Odisha, Rs 4265 crore has been provided to the works department for improvement of about 1175 kilometers of roads, construction of about 40 bridges and five railway over bridges.

The provision for the department also includes Rs 350 crore for double-laning of state highways under State Highway Development Programme, Rs 80 crore for road projects under PPP mode, Rs 100 crore for Biju Expressway to improve connectivity in Western Odisha and KBK districts, Rs 400 crore for Central Road Projects and Rs 714 crore for maintenance.

While chief minister Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated the Rourkela-Sambalpur stretch of the Biju Expressway project which was launched at five years ago, official sources maintained that Gurupriya Setu over the Janbai reservoir in Malkangiri district will be completed soon. The state government had launched a scheme, Connecting the Unconnected Villages to provide road connectivity to 142 remotest and inaccessible villages of 17 left wing extremist (LWE) districts for which Rs 100 crore has been provided in the 2018-19 state budget.

Steps have also been initiated to complete rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The government completed construction of 5000 kilometers under the scheme during 2017-18 and Rs 2900 crore has been provided to the PMGSY in 2018-19. However, to ensure connectivity to the habitations which are not eligible under PMGSY, Rs 400 crore has been earmarked under the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana for construction of 850 kilometers rural roads. Besides, Rs 375 crore has been provided for periodical maintenance of roads constructed under PMGSY.

Sources said Rs 600 crore has been provided under Biju Setu Yojana (BSY) for construction of 313 bridges. Inaugurating the Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan bridge over Mahanadi river at Cuttack on Sunday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said over 300 bridges have been constructed in Odisha during the last 17 years out of which 108 were completed during the last three years. He said a stretch of 25,000 kilometers road have also been completed across the state.

Seven bridges have already been constructed over the Mahanadi and work is on for five more bridges on the river, he said.