Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday dedicated to the public Odisha’s longest river bridge over the Kathajodi here and said the bridge, named after legendary freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, would reduce the travel time between the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar by 12 km.
Built at a cost of Rs 114 crore, the 2,815-meter bridge is about 600-meter longer than the earlier longest Mahanadi bridge also located in the city. The Kathajodi bridge having two abutments stands over 66 piers and has 67 spans. The 14.8-meter wide two-way bridge having three lanes also has footpaths on both sides.
Patnaik said proper infrastructure is the key to development, and Odisha is one of the leading States giving stress to boost its infrastructure. “While the State had only 16,000 km of road in the year 2000, it now has over 26,000 km of road,” he said, adding that the State budget for roads has increased nearly 40 times during this period.
Rajya Sabha BJD member Anubhav Mohanty, all the BJD MlAs of Cuttack district, including Health and law Minister Pratap Jena, and city Mayor Meenakshi Behera were present at the inaugural ceremony of the bridge, which connects Belle View of the city to Trishulia of Cuttack Sadar.