MALKANGIRI : SEVEN years after the 130 km Jeypore-Malkangiri railway line was sanctioned by the Centre, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has invited tender for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Rs 2,676 crore project.
Sources said the tender has been floated in anticipation of land acquisition which is yet to start. The Rs 641.52 crore EPC tender has been invited for a length of 41.5 km of the project.
The railway line is proposed to pass through 66 villages in Malkangiri and Koraput districts. Though no land has been acquired yet, special land acquisition officer Daniel Ekka said, survey has already been completed for the project.
Out of 486.34 acre government land required for the project, alienation and permissive possession has been given towards 27.512 acre in Koraput and 122.421 acre in Malkangiri district, public relations officer Nihar Ranjan Mohanty informed.
In Koraput, permission was issued for 26 villages in June 2022 and for the remaining three villages, the nod was received in June last year. Twenty seven village estimates have been submitted out of which six village estimates have received sanction so far, he informed.
In Malkangiri district, permission has been issued for all 37 villages. Joint field verification has been complete but estimates are yet to be submitted for sanction, Mohanty added.