Financial Express has a nice comprehensive report on Orissa’s road master plan. Following are excerpts from that report.

The plan will require an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore in the next five years.

We have decided to develop road infrastructure required for facilitating investments in mineral-based industries, IT and tourism, state works minister, AU Singhdeo, said. Roads are essential for efficient and cost-effective movement of commodities… and the government is working towards development of road sectors with specific focus on certain roads, he added.

The government has given top priority to three roads in the state. It proposes to upgrade the 91-km Naranpur-Brahmanipal-Dubri single lane into double lane with an investment of Rs.302 crore. This road is important as it will connect the mineral-rich Keonjhar district with the biggest industrial hub at Dubri in Jajpur district.

Then improvement of the 82-km Cuttack-Paradeep road will be undertaken with an investment of Rs 218 crore. This road will provide round ribbon transport network to the Posco India’s 12 million tonne mega steel project.

The 165-km Rourkela-Sambalpur road will be upscaled to four-lane under public-private- partnership (PPP).

The government has almost finalised a Rs 2,121 crore loan negotiation with the World Bank to undertake the Orissa State Road Project in the next five years from this fiscal. A total of 906 km of important corridors with high-density traffic have been identified under the Project. For development of road connectivity to places of tourism importance, the government has taken up seven projects with an investment of Rs 46 crore this fiscal. The Puri bypass road, Dhenkanal-Kapilash, and Padampur-Paikmal are been included in the list.

Finding some of the high-density traffic carrying important roads in industrial belt commercially viable for development under PPP, the government has lined up at least seven projects for development under BOT (built, operate and transfer) scheme. It has also floated the idea of connecting the industrially-active port town of Paradip with the state capital Bhubaneswar by laying a direct road of 93.5 km with an investment of Rs 562 crore.

The Ring Road will provide an alternative corridor to Natioanal Highway 60 for unhindered movement of vehicular traffic and decongest the township of Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda. Also in the list of BOT scheme are Joda-Bamebari, Koira-Rajamunda, Suakati- Dubuna in Keonjhar district and Sambalpur-Rourkela road projects. …