BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) recently accorded in-principle approval for four new national highway projects in Odisha, 13 vital stretches of 630 km in length out of the 20 ongoing projects over 776 km have missed the completion deadline.
Sources said four-laning of 251.5 km Cuttack-Sambalpur NH-55 taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 4,490.26 crore, four-laning of 50 km Rajamunda-Barkote NH-143 at Rs 616.23 crore and six-laning of 62.6 km Bhadrak-Balasore section of NH-16 at Rs 1,189.49 crore are running more than three years behind schedule.
Apart from the three highways, four-laning of 41.7 km Talcher-Kamakhyanagar section of NH-53 at Rs 795.18 crore and four-laning of 39.4 km Duburi-Chandikhole section of NH-53 at Rs 789 crore are pending for last over one year.
Similarly, six laning of the 185.3 km Raipur-Visakhapatnam section of NH-130-CD taken up at Rs 6,782.61 crore under six packages in Odisha is also pending completion for at least a year now.
The expansion of NH-55 into a four-lane highway that had commenced in 2017-18 was supposed to be completed by 2020-21. The national highway, considered the lifeline between the coastal and western Odisha has become a nightmare for commuters due to inordinate delay in completion and lack of repair of the existing highway.
NHAI officials said the projects were stuck due to delay in land acquisition, forest clearance, Covid-19 pandemic and a slow pace of work by the contractors. “After a brief lull, the work on NH-55 is going on and fresh deadlines have been fixed. The expansion work of Angul-Sambalpur section will be completed by October this year and that of Cuttack-Angul section will be over by the end of December,” said an official.
As per the extended deadline, the four-laning of Rajamunda-Barkote NH-143 will also be completed by December 31. The work was disrupted due to delay in shifting of high tension electric towers and completion of superstructure work of a 696 metre-long major bridge.
However, the six-laning of Bhadrak-Balasore section of NH-16 is expected to completed by March next year. While nearly 76 per cent of the 62 km stretch is over, work has been disrupted due to protests from locals at Soro during construction of drains. The NHAI has urged the local administration to intervene for early resolution of disputes.
Meanwhile, completion certificate for four-lane Puintola-Tangi NH-16, six-lane Tangi-Bhubaneswar NH-16, six-lane Chandikhole-Bhubaneswar NH-16 and four-lane Koida-Rajamunda NH-520 are also pending due to shifting of an old temple, protest by land owners to vacant land and delay in construction of Bimlagarh bow string road overbridge, respectively.
The MoRTH had recently granted in-principle approval for six-laning of 60 km Bhubaneswar-Puri highway at an estimated cost of Rs 1,800 crore, 200 km of Chandikhole-Barbil at Rs 10,000 crore, four-laning of 54 km-long Khurda-Nayagarh (NH-57) at Rs 1,100 crore and four-laning of 46 km of Kesinga-Junagarh (NH-26) at Rs 1,000 crore.
RUNNING BEHIND SCHEDULE
251.5 km Cuttack-Sambalpur NH-55 at Rs 4,490.26 cr
50 km Rajamunda-Barkote NH-143 at Rs 616.23 cr
62.6 km Bhadrak-Balasore section of NH-16 at Rs 1,189.49 cr
41.7 km Talcher-Kamakhyanagar section of NH-53 at Rs 795.18 cr
39.4 km Duburi-Chandikhole section of NH-53 at Rs 789 cr
185.3 km Raipur-Visakhapatnam section of NH-130-CD at Rs 6,782.61