State to build 5,500 km of concrete roads in 2011-12

As part of its endeavour to give a major facelift to rural infrastructure, the Orissa government has decided to build around 5,500 km of cement concrete (cc) roads in rural areas at a cost of Rs 900 crore in 2011-12.

"The Chief Minister has asked us to place work orders for building cc roads in rural areas by July and commission the work in 3-4 months. We will be spending Rs 900 crore on cc roads during 2011-12 compared to Rs 410 crore spent last year. The cc roads will cover 15,000 habitations in the state. Both the state funds as well as funds from the 13th Finance Commission will be utilized for the purpose,” PK Jena, secretary (panchayati raj) told reporters after a review meeting taken by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

For building cc roads, priority will be given to those villages which have a substantial population of SC/ST and primitive tribal groups.

Presently, Orissa has a total cc road network of 17,000 km of which nearly 12,000 km has been built in the past five years.

The funds for building cc roads in rural areas come from the 13th Finance Commission, Gopabandhu Grameen Yojana and Backward Region Grants Fund (BRGF).