The Union Cabinet held on Tuesday under chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi okayed a proposal for converting 112-km stretch of National Highway 42 from Cuttack to Angul into a four-lane highway at a cost of Rs1,575 crore.
The four-lane project, which would begin in Phase III of the National Highway Development Scheme, is expected to help bring socio-economic development in the State by easing traffic movement both for passenger and commercial vehicles.
The State Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that the proposal got Central nod only after intervention of Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The project, though was to begin from 2011, was delayed as the State Government failed to provide land.