The World Bank has cleared the much-awaited Cuttack-Chandbali Road project to be undertaken at a cost of Rs 373 crore. The World Bank sent its approval on Friday.
This is one of the biggest road projects to be implemented in the State, said a senior official in the Department of Works (DoW). With this, the World Bank cleared all other projects having a total length of 310 km at a cost of Rs 869 crore.
Once completed, the Cuttack-Chandbali Road project would ease the traffic congestion on the route. The State Government is keen on implementation of the project in a time-bound manner.
This was a longstanding demand of the people of the districts of Cuttack, Kendrapada and Bhadrak. This 106-km stretch has been divided into two parts, 49-km Jagatpur-Kendrapada which would be executed at a cost of Rs 176 crore and 57-km Kendrapada-Chandbali which would cost Rs 197 crore.
The land acquisition work for the Cuttack-Chandbali Road has been substantially completed, sources said, adding that efforts are on to make the remaining required land free of hurdles so as to put the project on the fast track.
Besides, a 95-km Chandbali-Bhadrak-Anandapur Road project would be executed at a cost of Rs 285 crore while Rs 115 crore would be spent for a project of 68-km Bhawanipatna-Khariar road and Rs 96 crore for a 41-km Brahmapur-Taptapani road project.
Though works of these projects had started earlier by the contractor AESS, the slow progress of the execution of the works has forced the authorities to terminate the contract and start the projects afresh, sources said.