Rourkela/Angul: Paradip would be developed into a smart port and smart city at an investment of Rs 40,000crore as part of the Centre’s plan to bring about speedy development of Orissa, Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced Friday while laying the foundation for the long-awaited second bridge on Brahmani river here.
The minister said the construction of the bridge that would form part of the six-lane road project connecting Biramitrapur and Rourkela would begin in the next 15 days and completed in two years.
“While road network is being expanded in the state, Paradip will be made a smart port and smart city at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. To begin with, Rs 2,700 crore would be provided for the project, he said, adding that an additional amount of Rs 2,000 crore would be spent on dredging so as to increase the depth of Paradip port. This would enable it handle a variety of vessels and cargo.
Plans are also afoot to construct a railway line between Paradip and the coal town of Talcher at an investment of Rs 9,000 crore. The coal production capacity of Talcher coal belt would also be raised to 300 million tonnes, he said.
Apart from these, around Rs one lakh crore is being invested in Paradip region for different petroleum and petro-chemical projects. Referring to the road sector, Gadkari said the Centre has spent over Rs 7,000 crore for constructing new highways in Orissa during the last three years and raised the highway length from 4632km to 6993km.
Stating that around Rs 1.5 lakh crore is earmarked for investment to enable expansion of highways and roads in the state, the minister said the NDA government has increased the road construction rate to 23km per day. The new bridge over Brahmani river, to be constructed at a cost of around Rs 550 crore, would be completed in two years. The bridge would be a part of the six-lane national highway from Rajamunda to Biramitrapur. Among those present were Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray.
Notably, the UPA-II government had floated the tender in 2011 for construction of the bridge but no firm showed any interest in the project due to the hassles involving forest department approval and land acquisition.
Meanwhile, the road transport minister attended the Bhoomipujan programme on the expansion project of the Angul-Sambalpur NH-55 at Dussehra ground in Angul. About Rs 1,255 crore would be spent for the 153 km-long expansion project.
Gadkari said 111 rivers across the country would be brought into a water route that would facilitate cheaper transport of goods. As part of the project, Talcher would be linked with Paradip and it would be extended upto Rourkela later on, the minister said. PTI
