Expedite road, bridge construction, Odisha CM tells officials

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 5:

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday asked the concerned officials to expedite road and bridge construction works in the state.

The chief minister, while presiding over a high-level review meeting at the State Secretariat here, directed the concerned officials to expedite the construction work of Biju Expressway, Ranchi- Vijaywada Highway and roads in the Maoist-prone districts. He also asked them to complete the road over-bridge construction at Malatipatpur near Puri by April this year. He also stressed maintenance of roads and use of state-of-the-art technology in the construction of roads.

It was revealed that there are a total of 21342.702 km of roads and 91,97,725 sq metre of buildings under the Works department.  Out of a total of Rs 3609 crore budget allocation during 2014-15 fiscal, the department has spent 98.25 percent (Rs 3546 crore).

Present at the meeting, the Works secretary informed that the construction works taken by Works department in the state is satisfactory and would be completed in time. He also said the department which has taken up construction of 13 road over-bridges in the state, will take up construction of nine more road over-bridges during 2015-16 fiscal. Besides, the department would take up construction of six fly-overs in Bhubaneswar and one in Sambalpur during the current fiscal, he added.

The Works secretary also informed that the department would also start the construction of ring roads in Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Brahmapur and Bolangir and bypass roads in Manmunda, Kothara, Bhawanipatna, Mangalpur and Jajpur to overcome traffic congestions.

The meeting also revealed that about one-sixth (230.30 km) of the construction work of 1205-km Vijaywada-Ranchi Highway Corridor has been completed while work for the remaining portion is underway.

Besides, construction of 820.13 km of roads comprising the national highway and state highway has already been completed while the remaining work would be completed by 2017.

Stating that the state government has given top priority to Rourkela-Nabarangpur  Biju Expressway (664 km) and construction of Gurupriya bridge in the cut-off area of Malkangiri district, the chief minister asked the concerned officials to ensure timely construction of these two projects.

While the projected cost of the Biju Expressway project is pegged at Rs 3600 crore, estimated cost of the Gurupriya project is Rs 187.25 crore.

Patnaik also told the officials to expedite the construction work of two river bridges in Cuttack and Sambalpur.

The meeting decided to introduce e-construction network system, (currently implemented in the Works department), in other engineering departments for regular supervision of project construction works.

Among others, chief secretary GC Pati, Development Commissioner UN Behera and senior officials of the concerned departments were present at the meeting.