BHUBANESWAR : The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited fresh bids to develop the first phase of 160.18 km of Odisha coastal highway project at Rs 4,961.6 crore.
This is for the third time that the NHAI has floated tenders for the ambitious project to be built on hybrid annuity mode (HAM). Tenders invited twice in the last two years were cancelled due to administrative issues.
As decided by the Centre, the 346-km greenfield highway from Rameshwar in Odisha’s Khurda district to West Bengal’s Digha will be developed in two phases. While the section from Rameshwar to Paradip (160.18 km) has been approved by the public private partnership appraisal committee (PPPAC) of the Ministry of Finance, the detailed project report (DPR) is underway for the remaining portion from Paradip to Digha (185.82 km).
The two packages for which fresh tenders have been issued include four-lane access control carriageway from Rameshwar to Konark (79.4 km) and two-lane with paved shoulders from Konark to Paradip (80.78 km).
As per the tender documents (accessed by TNIE), the estimated construction cost of the stretch from Rameshwar to Konark and Konark to Paradip has been pegged at Rs 3,320.89 crore and Rs 1,640.71 crore, respectively. The expected completion time for both the packages is 2.5 years. The bidders have been asked to submit their bids online on or before January 14, 2026.
However, sources said, the project with the revised DPR is yet to get the approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which is chaired by the prime minister. “The cabinet nod is expected by the bid opening date. In case of delay, the tender duration can be extended,” sources said.
Announced in 2015, the construction of the highway has been delayed by more than 10 years. Initially planned as a four-lane highway, the section from Konark to Paradip was reduced to two-lane on the grounds of current and expected traffic volume, prompting the NHAI to revise the DPR.
Interestingly, the DPR was modified from a planned four-lane highway to two-lane in a majority of portions, a month after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi urged Union minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to convert the proposed two-lane coastal highway to four-lane.
In May last year, the NHAI had to cancel the tenders floated for the Rameshwar-Paradip stretch due to last-minute change in alignment over traffic volume. In August 2023, the tenders invited for three packages were also cancelled.