Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked the concerned officials to expedite road and bridge construction works. Chairing a high-level review meeting at the State Secretariat here on Saturday, he directed the officials to fast-track the works of the Biju Expressway, Ranchi-Vijayawada 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 stressed on use of state-of-the-art technology in the construction of roads. It was revealed that there are a total of 21,342.702 km of roads and 91,97,725 sqmetre of buildings under the Works Department. Out of a total of Rs3,609-crore Budget allocation during 2014-15 fiscal, the department has spent 98.25 percent (Rs3,546 crore).
Works Secretary NK Pradhan informed that his department, which has undertaken construction of 13 road over-bridges in the State, would undertake construction of nine more road over-bridges during 2015-16. Besides, the department would take up construction of six flyovers in Bhubaneswar and one in Sambalpur during the current fiscal, he added. The Works Secretary also informed that the department would start construction of ring roads in Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Brahmapur and Balangir and bypass roads in Manmunda, Kothara, Bhawanipatna, Mangalpur and Jajpur to overcome traffic congestions.
The meeting revealed that about one-sixth (230.30 km) of the construction work of 1205-km Vijayawada-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 Highways and State Highways has already been completed while the remaining work would be completed by 2017. While the projected cost of the Biju Expressway is pegged at Rs3,600 crore, the estimated cost of the Gurupriya project is Rs187.25 crore. The meeting decided to introduce e-construction network system, currently implemented in the Works department, in other engineering departments for regular supervision of project.