Orissa to develop 250-km road in five Naxal-affected districts

As part of its plan to develop and upgrade the existing road networks in the Left Wing Extremists (LWE) affected districts, the Orissa government has decided to develop about 250 kms of roads in five districts.

These districts are Malkangiri, Raygada, Ganjam, Koraput and Sambalpur and the road projects would involve an estimated expenditure of Rs 400 crore.

The Union government has agreed to provide the funds for five to six road projects in those affected areas and out of it, it has sanctioned three. The roads which have been sanctioned are Samasinga (Sinduraparua)-Sambalpur, Parlakhemundi-Mohana via R Udayagiri and Gunupur-Andhra border via Kashipur, sources said. The state works department has sent the detailed project report (DPR) for these roads to the Centre.

“The basic work for these roads have started and the work is likely to start after 3-4 months after the tender process is over”, a senior official of the state works department said.

Sources said, the government will invite open tenders for these works and the required security may be provided to the contractors entrusted with the work. The quality of the roads will be at par with the national highways.

Meanwhile, a team of the World Bank visited the new road sites being taken up under Orissa State Road Project (OSRP). The team headed by Rajesh Rohtagi today called on the works secretary in the state secretariat. They are stated to have expressed satisfaction over the progress of the work.

These patches are construction of the 68-km Bhawanipatna-Khariar road, 95 km long Chandbali-Bhadrakh-Anandapur road and 41 km Berhampur-Taptapani road. After some delay in those projects, the work have finally taken off, sources added.

Construction of 204 kms of roaddsare proposed to be constructed in the first phase under the Orissa State Road Project (OSRP).Similarly, the construction of 257 kms of road will be taken up in the second phase of OSRP. This includes Taptapani-Raipanka road (68 km), Raipanka-JK Pur (83km) and Jagatpur-Chandabali (106 km).