State highways in Odisha to be developed at Rs 3,000 cr

Odisha is to repair its State Highways at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore in the next four years. The State government has started process for tenders for road works of 381 km in the first phase at a cost of Rs 633 crore. The government has come out with ‘State Highways Development Programme (SHDP), a new scheme for the purpose. Under the plan, the government aims to double lane all the State Highways within 12th Five Year Plan with an estimated investment of Rs 3,000.00 crore.

To manage and monitor the projects under the SHDP scheme, a project management cell (PMC) will be set up. The Works department has been advised to engage a professional contract management agency to assist the PMC for timely accomplishment of the targets. Recently, at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, J K Mohapatra, emphasis was given on completion of road widening work in Naxal-affected districts.

The first phase of the programme include widening and strengthening of 11.772 km road between Hindol and Mahidharpur on SH-64 in Dhenkanal district , 11.93 km long Umerkote-Raighar-Kundei-Likma on SH-40 in Nabarangpur district, , 8.20 km Seragarh-Nilagiri-Jharanaghati on SH-19 in Balasore district and 7km Arigaon-Bishalpali road in Bolangir district.