BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday reviewed the progress of some big-ticket road infrastructure projects implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Odisha. Pradhan reviewed the progress of the coastal highway project under Bharatmala Pariyojana, the Ring Road project in the city, the proposed eight-lane economic corridor between Paradip and Barbil and other projects of NHAI with senior officers of the national agency.
The coastal highway project which ran into rough weather due to frequent changes in alignment by the State government has been delayed by over six years. After the approval of the final alignment by the State government on August 9, the original length of the highway was reduced from 450 km to 382 km.
The 382 km long highway will originate from Tangi and pass through Brahmagiri, Puri, Konark, Astarang, Naugaon, Paradip Port, Ratanpur, Satabhaya, Dhamra, Basudevpur, Talapada, Chandipur, Chandaneswar before culminating in Digha in West Bengal. The NHAI will conduct land survey and submit its report to the Land Acquisition Committee (LAC) by the end of this month.
The land acquisition process will start after the approval of the committee and statutory clearance from the Forest and Environment department. The Union Minister also reviewed the Capital Region Ring Road (CRRR) project to be implemented by the NHAI. The road alignment of the ambitious project was approved by the State government in April this year. The 112 km long road estimated to cost Rs1,200 crore will originate at Rameswar and will bypass Khurda town, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Choudwar.
Pradhan emphasized on completion of the projects in a time-bound manner. He said these infrastructure projects will provide an impetus to economic growth of Odisha which will be epicentre of economic activities in eastern India under the ‘Purvodaya’ vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.