BHUBANESWAR: Enubala Jena had no inkling the pilgrimage to Nrusinghanath would be her final journey. On January 23, the private bus she was travelling in jumped off an under-construction bridge along NH-55 near Panchubati in Dhenkanal district. With no visible signage on the stretch, the bus driver headed straight instead of taking a right, only to fall off the half-built bridge right into a canal.
The 55-year-old woman, a resident of Ichhapur village in Kendrapara district, and another passenger perished while a dozen more were critically injured. Most of the passengers on the bus were sleeping when death struck.
One of the most significant highways of the state, the NH-55 has long been crucial connect between coastal, central Odisha and western regions of the state. Its importance as an economic corridor necessitated expansion of the NH’s 263-km stretch from Cuttack to Sambalpur into a four-lane carriageway. Completed, the highway would link industrial corridors of eastern coastal and western Odisha besides accelerating movement of mining and industrial traffic and uninterrupted connectivity to the ports of Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur.
Started in three phases between March 2017 and March 2018, the four-laning work of the Cuttack-Sambalpur section of NH-55 (old NH-42) was taken up at a cost of Rs 2,367 crore. The NH was divided into three packages - 60 km Manguli-Jhargadia (Package I), 52 km Jhargadia-Angul (Package II) and 151 km Angul-Sambalpur (Package III).
Hyderabad-based infrastructure company Gayatri Projects Ltd had bagged all three contracts in two phases in 2016 and 2017. Package I was taken up at a cost of Rs 583 crore, Package II at Rs 529 crore and Package III at Rs 1,255 crore. Seven years hence, the estimate almost stands doubled at Rs 4,482 crore (Package I - Rs 999 crore, Package II - Rs 991 crore and Package III - Rs 2492 crore) due to cost escalation.The expansion was to be completed by June 30, 2022. The deadline is long gone. This was the third time the project missed its deadline. The Angul-Sambalpur section awarded in September 2016 was to be completed by August 2019. The Cuttack-Angul stretch was to be ready by September 2020.
VUPs and AUPs bone of contention
Three years have passed since the original deadline and more than 40 per cent of work awaits completion. As per the contracts, six major bridges, 59 minor bridges, three flyovers, 10 vehicle underpasses (VUPs), 19 animal underpasses (AUPs), 653 culverts and two road over bridges were proposed to be constructed along the 263 km stretch.
However, only one major bridge has been completed along with 30 minor bridges, 505 culverts and four VUPs in last five years. None of the flyovers and AUPs (elephant underpasses) has been built yet.
Three major bridges under the Cuttack-Angul (Package II) stretch and two under Angul-Sambalpur (Package III) section are under progress. Sources reveal none of the elephant underpasses was initially planned though the NH cuts right across key wildlife habits and migration routes. The AUPs were later added after the issue was flagged by Odisha forest and environment department following death of elephants in road accidents. Twelve AUPs will be built in a two-km elephant corridor between Angul and Sambalpur and the rest seven, between Cuttack and Angul.
Although around 105 km four-laning work of the 151 km Angul-Sambalpur stretch has been completed, it missed the deadline as expansion work in Sambalpur town was delayed by more than two years due to local resistance. Construction of a one-km long bridge and six-km road in Rairakhol town is yet to start.
“The repair and maintenance work is carried out as per requirement. Over 70 pc of the package in Angul-Sambalpur section has been completed. Hopefully, it will be completed by end of this year,” NHAI project director (Sambalpur) K Nageswara Rao told ‘The Express’.
Similarly, around 46 km of the 60 km Manguli-Jhargadia (Package I) and 29 km of the 52 km Jhargadia-Angul (Package II) have been finished so far. NHAI officials say some of the VUPs, which were not under the initial scope of work, were added following demands from locals. There will be VUPs at Bali, Oranda and Choudwar town for which separate tenders have been floated. Once vehicle underpasses are ready, provisional commercial operation on the stretch from Manguli-Jhargadia will be issued by June.
NHAI project director (Dhenkanal) A Srinivas Rao points out that the main carriageway in both the packages is nearing completion. Over 75 pc four-laning work of the Package I and 60 pc work of the Package II are over. The stretch will be completed by December, he asserts.
The NH expansion project taken up on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode was initially delayed for over a year due to delay in land acquisition and disbursement of land compensation by Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA). It then got stuck due to delay in forest clearances, tree cutting in forest stretches, removal of government and religious structures. Then Covid-19 pandemic struck. What worsened the fate of the project was poor financial health of the EPC contractor.
Contractor goes bankrupt
Even as NH 55 expansion work lagged, Gayatri Projects Ltd (GPL), which is into roads, railways, power, irrigation and mining projects, went into a severe financial crisis a year after it bagged the contracts. NHAI insiders acknowledge this is perhaps for the first time a company went bankrupt while executing a highway project. The firm owes over Rs 6,228 crore to financial institutions of the country and is now under liquidation after making pleas to lenders to consider debt-recast proposals for over a year.
With an annual turnover of Rs 3,102 crore and Rs 5,864 crore worth of assets, the firm was admitted for corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) proceedings in November 2022 by National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on an application filed by the SBI under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 for defaulting on Rs 242.33 crore loan, followed by another application by Bank of Baroda. Canara Bank had also initiated a CIRP against the company for a default of Rs 1,520 crore.
On January 14, the lenders invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for the resolution of the firm following the NCLT order.The company had incurred a loss of Rs 926.29 crore in 2021-22 and there has been substantial erosion in its net worth on account of huge losses. “The company defaulted in repayment of outstanding loans including recalled loans and other credit facilities, devolvement of non-fund based facilities of Rs 2,724.38 crore,” the financial statement ending March 31, 2022 (accessed by The Express) mentioned. Managing director TV Sandeep Kumar Reddy did not respond to calls and mail from TNIE.
Meanwhile, the construction company has appointed three sub-contractors - Infraengineers Pvt Ltd, CP Arora Engineers and Contractors Pvt Ltd and Agarwal Infrabuild Pvt Ltd to execute the pending works of NH-55.
Chief general manager of NHAI Ram Prasad Panda admits the highway expansion was delayed due to financial constraints of the executing agency. The sub-contractors engaged by the construction company have been approved by NHAI for carrying out the pending works. Hopefully the Manguli-Jhargadia stretch of Cuttack-Angul package will be completed by June and the rest two by the end of this year, he informed.
Drivers’ nightmare
Incomplete at several stretches, NH-55 is a driver’s nightmare. Between 2016 and 2022, it reported 1,315 accidents and 603 deaths, thanks due to its terrible condition. Policemen engaged in traffic management claim half the accidents in the stretch are due to potholed and under-construction roads.
During expansion works, the executing agency is mandated to put up crash barricades, proper signage with radium stickers at vulnerable points and carry out regular maintenance under supervision of NHAI for smooth movement of traffic and preventing mishaps but haphazard repair has made it a nightmare for commuters.
Biju Janata Dal’s Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo even went on to lodge a police complaint against the NH project director and contractor over the inordinate delay. The expansion work has been pushed to uncertainty due to indifferent attitude of NHAI and financial constraints of the contractor, he says.
The highway that connects the coal and industrial hub of Angul-Talcher with the trading city Cuttack and western Odisha’s Sambalpur town is a proverbial road to perdition. The condition of under-construction stretches is so horrendous that travellers are unsure if they will come out without their vehicles suffering damage.“I had taken up the matter in Lok Sabha and held discussions with the union road transport and highways minister. Despite repeated promises in the Parliament, the work is far from over,” Sahoo points out.
Transport consultant and a member of state-level road safety committee Subrat Nanda describes this stretch of national highway as no man’s land. Neither the NHAI nor the state authorities pay any attention despite frequent accidents due to its deplorable condition, he says.Angul Bus Owners’ Association president Manas Samal says the horrifying condition of the NH has affected socio-economic condition of the region. “This is probably one of the worst highway stretches in the country. The commuters take alternative routes but bus operators are forced to ply risking vehicles and life,” he claims.
32 NH projects behind schedule
NH-55 is not just the only project running behind schedule in Odisha. As many as 32 NH projects lag anything between one to six years. The delayed projects in the state are located on NH 16, 18, 20, 26, 49, 53, 55, 57, 59, 63, 130C, 143, 149, 153B, 157, 220, 326, 326A and 520.
According to a written reply by Union Minister Gadkari in the Lok Sabha, the projects were stuck due to delay in land acquisition, forest clearing, utility shifting, forest clearance, Covid-19 pandemic and a slow pace of work by contractors. The union minister has, however, assured that all the pending projects will be finished by mid 2023.
Of 37 new expansion and NH related projects in the state approved a year back, work orders have not been awarded in 34 projects. Though letter of acceptance (LoA) has been issued for three projects - six-laning of 23 km Kandili-Tumbigur section of NH 130 CD at a cost of Rs 1,396 crore, four-km Baraja-Kandili section at Rs 618 crore and a bridge over Brahmani in Duburi-Chandikhole section at Rs 92 crore, work is yet to start.
Eastern states at bottom
Odisha is also among the bottom five states as far as NH network is concerned. Maharashtra leads the states with 17,756 km, followed by Uttar Pradesh (11,736), Rajasthan (9,998 km) and Madhya Pradesh (8,772).
The state has a network of 32 NHs with a total length of 5,762 km. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has 6,530 km NH, Telangana (3,795 km), West Bengal (3,664 km), Bihar (5,030 km), Chhattisgarh (3,606 km) and Jharkhand (3,366 km). Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have 7,335 km and 6,741 km of NH respectively.
Official sources said no state road has been converted into NH in Odisha in last four years. In 2018, at least 330.3 km length of state roads was declared national highways. Of the 5,762 km NH in the state, 2,929 km is maintained by NHAI and the rest 2,833 km is looked after by Works department.
Repeated promises of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notwithstanding, 14 new road stretches of 1576 km, which were identified and got in-principle approval in 2025-16 for declaration of NHs, are yet to get the status. These roads connect largely underdeveloped and developing towns and semi urban areas in 20 districts.