By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Rourkela-Sambalpur Biju Expressway will be completed by December. Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat here on Friday. Padhi directed the Works Department to ensure quality of construction through close monitoring. He also wanted completion of the Biju Expressway project by June 2019.
Presenting the updates about the road projects, Works Secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan said that within last one year State Highway-16 stretching over 86 km from Bhwanipatna to Khariar and costing Rs 115 crore has been completed and opened to traffic. Four bridges over river Tel with a total expenditure of Rs 32 crore have also been completed and opened to traffic. A 41-km road from Brahmapur to Taptapani costing around Rs 95 crore has also been completed and opened to traffic.
Substantial progress has been made in construction of the road from Jagatpur to Nischintakoili (25 km) and Nischintaloili to Duhuria (24 km). The total cost of the projects is Rs 205 crore.
The work package for a road from Chandbali to Kendrapada (56.5 km) estimated to cost Rs 170 crore has been expedited with 16 km and is nearing completion. The road works from Bhadrak to Pirahat (27.5 km) and Pirahat to Chandbali (17.5 km) are under progress.
Rs 174 crore has been invested in all these works from July 2016 to May 2017.The Works Secretary also appraised that the construction of the Biju Expressway stretching over 656 km from Rourkela to Chamdili has been expedited. The project cost is Rs 3,200 crore.
This project has been planned as an economic corridor between Jagdalpur and Rourkela. The road will connect Bargarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh with KBK’s Koraput, Nabrangpur, Kalahani and Nuapada.
The expressway from Rourkela to Nuapada starching over 355 km would be made four-lane and the balance road from Nuapada to Chamdili connecting Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh would be made two-lane.
Till now, the road from Rourkela to Sambalpur is nearing completion and is expected to be commissioned by December 2017.The works in remaining portion have been expedited to for completion by June 2019.
