BHUBANESWAR: At least 18 projects including two proposed highways of Odisha were evaluated and approved at the Network Planning Group (NPG) meeting under the PM GatiShakti initiative at New Delhi on Friday.
The projects include Sambalpur Ring Road and Cuttack-Paradip corridor. With this, a total of six highway projects of the state have been accorded in-principle approval in a month.
The four-lane Sambalpur Ring Road project measuring around 35.38 km is essential for reducing congestion and supporting industrial growth in the region. The greenfield ring road will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,333 crore and the work is expected to begin soon.
Similarly, the four-lane Cuttack-Paradip corridor spanning 86.79 km will provide critical connectivity to the economic nodes and the Paradip port, which also connects to other high-capacity highways. This will play an important role in socio-economic development of the region. Last month, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had approved four highway projects worth Rs 15,000 crore proposed by the state government.
The approved projects are six-lane 60-km Bhubaneswar-Puri highway at an estimated cost of Rs 1,800 crore, 200-km Chandikhole-Barbil at Rs 10,000 crore, four-lane 54-km Khurda-Nayagarh NH-57 at Rs 1,100 crore and four-lane 46-km Kesinga-Junagarh NH-26 at Rs 1,000 crore.
The state government has also submitted proposals for four more national highway projects. The 383-km Jharsuguda-Balasore highway at an estimated cost of Rs 7,500 crore, 491-km Nuapada-Astaranga highway at Rs 9,500 crore, 357-km Brundababahal-Gopalpur highway at Rs 6,800 crore and 404-km Sambalpur-Satabhaya highway at Rs 5,477 crore, are awaiting the approval of the Centre.
“The two new projects evaluated by the NPG are based on the principles of PM GatiShakti integrated development of multimodal infrastructure, last-mile connectivity to economic and social nodes. The projects will go under bidding process after statutory approvals,” said an official of the National Highways Authority of India.