Bhubaneswar: Odisha model of National Highway (NH) improvement was applauded by Secretary Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India Giridhar Aramane in a joint review meeting of NH projects.
The meeting held last evening in the Lokseba Bhawan was chaired by Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.
Aramane said, “Odisha model for NH improvement is very good. All officers from the level of Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary to DFO and Executing Engineers are well conversant with the alignment of the roads, progress of each project, and ground-level issues that need to be tackled”.
He added, such an approach helped expeditious grounding and implementation of the projects.
He advised the field level NHAI officers to be in regular touch with Collectors and Divisional Forest Officers for quick resolution of the issues as and when those arise in the process of implementation.
The progress of different NH projects was reviewed in the meeting.
Considering various contours of the ground-level issues, Chief Secretary Mahapatra set timelines for different phases of the work against each project.
The DFOs and Collectors were also directed to resolve the issues proactively and provide all possible support for the completion of the projects within the scheduled timeline.
Further, Mahapatra highlighted the need for the development of an economic corridor from Paradeep to Bhadrasahi-Barbil.
He advised that NHAI should go ahead with land acquisition to have 100 mt ROW along this road for all future use including the provision of assorted utilities.
Mahapatra also assured that the State government would provide all support for land acquisition for the ROW.
It was decided in principle that NHAI and State would jointly develop the ROW.
Presenting the updates about NH projects in Odisha, Additional Director General NHAI Dharmananda Sadangi said that 38 number of NHs running over 5753 km passed through 30 districts of the State. Out of this, 19 roads of 2920 km length were managed by NHAI, and the other 19 roads of 2833 km were maintained by the Works department of the State.
A review showed that out the total length of 5753 km of NH, around 243 km were developed to 6-lane; 1486 km were developed to 4-lane, 1934 km were developed to 2-lane with paved shoulder, 1257 km were developed to 2-lane, and around 834 km were developed to single or intermediate lane.
Besides, 20 projects worth Rs 15015 crore for improvement of around 901 km of road were taken up by NHAI.
Similarly, 31 projects estimated around Rs 3088 crore for improvement of around 1146 km of road were taken up by the Works department of the State Government.
Secretary Works, Krishan Kumar appraised the progress status of different NH roads being developed by the State.
He said that the work in the Panikoili-Rimuli section of NH-20 was fast-tracked. One side of the Belabahali bridge was opened to traffic from the 1st week of January 2022.
Chief Secretary directed to complete the project in all respects by June of the current year.
Similarly, the development of the Rimuli-Koida section of NH-520 made substantial progress. It was targeted to start commercial operation on this road by March 2022.
Similarly, the Singhara-Binjabahal section of NH-49 also made significant progress. Provisional commercial operation certificate against this road was issued on 19 January 2022, and in the meanwhile tolling operations also started.
Kumar also highlighted the industrial and commercial potentials of the proposed Paradeep- Barbil economic corridor, including the importance of the road for evacuation of the ever-increasing quantum of minerals.
The issues relating to the disbursement of the compensation awards against land acquisition, forest diversion, compensatory afforestation, construction of animal under pass (AUP), elephant under pass (EUP), and vehicle under pass (VUP), payment of user fee by State carriage buses, wildlife clearances about certain patches of some roads, handing over the physical possession of land to the NHAI, etc were discussed and resolved in the meeting.
Member NHAI Mahavir Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Revenue and Disaster Management Satyabrata Sahu, Secretary Works Krishan Kumar, Transport Commissioner Arun Bothra, Chief General Manager NHAI Ram Prasad Panda along with senior officers from NHAI, State and Central Government participated in the discussions.
