With the existing State Highways (SHs) crying for improvement due to heavy congestion, industrialisation and mining activities, the State Government on Thursday decided to develop all the State Highways to the two-lane standard by the end of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore.
The decision on the biggest infrastructure initiative under the State Highways Development Programme (SHDP) was taken at a State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The project would cover 2,158 km of roads up to the two-lane standard.
Out of the total 4,860 km of the State Highways, 2,701 km has already been improved and the remaining 2,158 km would be developed by 2016-17.
“For land acquisition, the administration has been duly empowered and the compensation to land losers will amount to around Rs 300 crore,” said a Works Department officer.
As per the target, 30 km would be completed during 2013-14, which would be scaled up to 350 km in 2014-15, 700 km in 2015-16 and 1,028 in 2016-17, he said.