Projects worth 2500 crore cleared for infrastructure development

The New Indian Express, May 1, 2007

BHUBANESWAR: Projects worth over Rs 2500 crore in the roads, fisheries and forest sectors were cleared by the State Level Project Monitoring Committee on Monday paving the way for massive infrastructure development in the State.

The projects cleared by the Committee includes the Rs 2121.11 crore Orissa State Road Project (OSRP) to be funded by the World Bank. The World Bank will provide Rs 1406.89 crore for the project to be implemented over a period of five years and the State Government will contribute Rs 714.22 crore.

The project was earlier approved by the Committee on January 20 with a cost of Rs 1642.44 crore. However, the administrative department revised the cost of the project to Rs 2121.11 crore.

To be implemented in three phases, the roads proposed under Phase-I is 835 kilometers of state highways. The roads included in phase-1 are, Berhampur-Digapahandi-JK Pur-Rayagada (201 kilometers), Kereda-Rayagada-JK Pur-Bhawanipatna-Khariar (213 kilometers), Jagatpur-Kendrapara-Chandbali-Bhadrak (152 kilometers), Bhadrak-Anandpur-Karanjia-Jashipur (142 kilometers), Daspalla-Narsinghpur-Hindol-Banarpal (89 kilometers) and Aska-Bhanjanagar (38 kilometers).

Official sources said that at a later stage the 39 kilometre long Dhamra port to Digochhia Chhak road connecting Bhadrak-Chandbali corridor and the 199 kilometer long Mohana-Chandiput-R Udaygiri-Paralakemundi-Gunupur and Bangi junction were added to the project.

The World Bank has already sanctioned Rs 13.2 crore advance which is a part of the loan for project preparation activities. A steering committee headed by the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary has been constituted to review the progress of the project. The committee has so far reviewed the project thrice.

The OSRP includes construction of 906 kilometers of two lane roads, 93 bridges, 1006 culverts, 180 kilometers roads in built up area, 85 roads with paved shoulders, six town by-passes, 70 wildlife crossings and three elephant crossings.

The Committee also cleared the integrated management and pro-poor support project for marine fishermen of the State. To be implemented over a period of two years, the Overseas Development Agency (ODA) of Japan will provide financial assistance for the project. Two other projects under the fisheries department with an investment of Rs 175.71 crore were cleared by the committee.

The projects, cluster development approach for brackish water culture in Orissa and improvement of animal health care system would be implemented over a period of two years with financial assistance from ODA of Japan.

The catchment area treatment plans of Upper Kolab hydroelectric project and Upper Indravati Multipurpose project were also cleared by the Committee. Both the project to be financed by the Indo-German Bilateral Development Cooperation would be implemented over a period of seven years.