___________

Following is from a PTI report in zeenews.

The Cabinet Committee of Infrastructure (CCI) on tuesday approved projects … four/two laning of Birmitrapur-Barkote section on NH 23 in Orissa under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) phase IV-A, an official release said.

"… The total estimated cost of the project (Orissa) is Rs 1,098.90 crore," the release said.

On land acquisition, resettlement, rehabilitation and pre-construction, … Rs 320.75 crore will be spent on  Orissa projects.

Both the projects will be built on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis in BOT (Toll) mode of delivery.

… On the Orissa project, which is based in Sundargah and Deogarh districts, it said the concession period is 23 years including construction period of 30 months for 125.61 km scheme.

"The project will reduce the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Birmitrapur-Barkote. It will also increase the employment potential for the local labourers for the project activities," it said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in ibnlive.com.

Naveen demanded that five State Highways — Berhampur-Koraput, Madhapur-Rayagada, Phulnakhara-Konark, Kuakhia-Aradi-Bhadrak and Palasa-Khariar — be upgraded to NHs.

Following are excerpts from a report in Hindu.

The Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, has sought 50 per cent share in “super normal profit” earned by private mine owners and said he would raise the issue of imposition of a mineral resource tax on iron ore during the National Development Council (NDC) meeting on Saturday.

“Mining companies are making super normal profits in Orissa. People of Orissa deserve 50 per cent of this…a quarter of our population is of tribals and we will put this profit to developing our areas,” Mr Patnaik said.

He said this was essential as most of the mining companies were operating on tribal land without doing justice to the people. Despite the State being the owner of the resources, the mine owners are benefiting beyond any measure of reasonable returns, he said.

“I have already written to the Prime Minister about it. I will be speaking about it in the NDC meeting. Rent-resource tax from the mining companies should be levied on Australia’s pattern,” he said.

In a July 30 letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Patnaik said, “The insatiable demand for iron ore in the export market has resulted in iron ore becoming highly profitable commodity, with returns from mining being far in excess of economically acceptable rates.”

The letter mentioned that the super-normal profits being made are evident from the audited operational profits of 80 per cent by miners, which is unheard of in other industries.

The Chief Minister had sought imposing a 50 per cent mineral resource tax, taking cue from Australia which has decided to levy higher taxes on iron ore from July 2012.

The various phases of NHDP and their meaning, as obtained from wikipedia,  is as follows:

Phase I: The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ; 5,846 km) connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

* In Odisha: Part of the GQ connecting Kolkata to Chennai.

Phase II: North-South and East-West corridors comprising national highways connecting four extreme points of the country. The North-South and East-West Corridor (NS-EW; 7,300 km) connecting Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, including spur from Salem to Kanyakumari (Via Coimbatore and Kochi) and Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west.

* In Odisha None

Phase III: The government recently approved NHDP-III to upgrade 12,109 km (7,524 mi)of national highways on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, which takes into account high-density traffic, connectivity of state capitals via NHDP Phase I and II, and connectivity to centres of economic importance. contracts have been awarded for a 2,075 km (1,289 mi).

* In Odisha (From http://www.nhai.org/nhdpphase3.asp.)

• Panikholi-Keonjhar- Rimoli, NH 215, 106kms
• Duburi – Talcher, NH 200, 98kms
• Bhubneshwar-Puri(Approved Length 59 Km) 203 67
• Chandikhole-Duburi 200 39
• Rimoli – Roxy – Rajamunda(Approved Length 163Km) 215 96
• Sambalpur-Baragarh-Chattisgarh/Orrisa Border 6 88 Balance for award

Phase IV: The government is considering widening 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of highway that were not part of Phase I, II, or III. Phase IV will convert existing single lane highways into two lanes with paved shoulders. The plan will soon be presented to the government for approval.

* In Odisha (From http://www.nhai.org/ppp.htm.)

• Birmitrapur-Barkote 23 Orissa 128 778.15 IV Aug’11
• Angul-Sambalpur 42 Orissa 153 1220.32 IV Aug’11
• Cuttak-Angul 42 Orissa 112 1123.69 IV Sep’11  [4 laning approved by finance ministry panel, Sept 2011]

Phase V: As road traffic increases over time, a number of four lane highways will need to be upgraded/expanded to six lanes. The current plan calls for upgrade of about 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of four-lane roads, although the government has not yet identified the stretches.

* In Odisha (From http://www.nhai.org/nhdpphase5.asp.)

• Six Laning of Chandikhol-Jagatpur-Bhubaneswar(Approved Length 61 Km) 5 67
• Dhankuni-Balasore (Orissa portion Balasore – Laxmannath) 2 , 6& 60 235.68
• Bhubneshwar-Ichchapuram 5 164.33
• Balasore –Chandikhol 5 138.14

Phase VI: The government is working on constructing expressways that would connect major commercial and industrial townships. It has already identified 400 km (250 mi) of Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Mumbai section that would connect to the existing Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Ahmedabad section. The World Bank is studying this project. The project will be funded on BOT basis. The 334 km (208 mi) Expressway between Chennai—Bangalore and 277 km (172 mi) Expressway between Kolkata—Dhanbad has been identified and feasibility study and DPR contract has been awarded by NHAI.

* In Odisha: None yet.

Phase VII: This phase calls for improvements to city road networks by adding ring roads to enable easier connectivity with national highways to important cities. In addition, improvements will be made to stretches of national highways that require additional flyovers and bypasses given population and housing growth along the highways and increasing traffic. The government has not yet identified a firm investment plan for this phase.

* In Odisha: None yet.

In addition to the above some of the other major highway development activities are:

• Sambalpur-Rourkela (SH-10) : Widening from two lane to Four Lane Divided Carriage Way – Flexible Pavement with Hard Shoulder. This is being done via PPP by the state.
• Capital Region Ring Road (CRRR): New Construction for     4-lane bituminous road in phases with 2-lane road in Phase-1. This is to be done via PPP by the state.
• Bhubaneswar-Paradeep: New Construction for  4-lane bituminous road. Possibly as part of the Paradeep PCPIR.
• Green Field Coastal Corridor from Astarang to Dhamara via Paradeep:  Possibly as part of the Paradeep PCPIR.
• Vijaywada – Ranch highway: Got approval of Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure in October 2010 for a total budget of 1200 crores. The detailed route and map is at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1247. The path is Motu – Malkangiri – Jeypore – Koraput – Laxmipur – Rayagada – Digapahandi – Aska – Bhanjanagar – Sankarkhol – Phulbani – Boudha – Kiakata – Rairakhol – Nakti Deol – Chhendipada – Deogarh – Keonjhar – Dhenkikote – Tongabilla – Rairangpur – Jharkhand border

The following annotated map shows the above highways on the Odisha map.

The blue path is the divided 2 lane Vijaywada-Ranchi highway; the red one, already a 4-lane highway as part of the Golden Quadrilateral will become a 6-lane highway; and the orange (state/PPP funded) and pink (part of NHDP) ones will be 4-lane highways. I believe soon the remaining parts of NH 5 (for port connectivity to ports in Balasore district) and NH 6  (as it connects Mumbai-Kolkata) will also become 4-lane highways and all the new ports coming up will be connected to the GQ by 4-lane highways.

The concern is the bottom half of Odisha which will not have good roads except the Vijaywada-Ranchi highway. Unless particular attention is paid to that part, it will fall further behind.

The expressway plan at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/topics/tnc-all/roads-and-highways-infrastructure-in-orissa/expressways does cover all of Odisha in phases. If parts of it can be expedited then it will help.

Following is from http://www.nhai.org/ppp.htm.

Update on July 12 2011: As per a report in Business Standard:

The financial ministry approves the four laning of Angul-Sambalpur section of NH 42 in Orissa for Rs 1,220.32 crore and two/four laning of Birmitrapur to Barkote section in Orissa (Rs 778.15 crore). These are to be done via PPP.

Original part published on: June 19th. 2008, 11:55pm

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

The Lok Sabha petitions committee rapped the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for the inordinate delay in four-laning of the National Highway No 42 from Angul to Sambalpur. As a number of steel industries and thermal power plants are coming up in Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Angul and Dhenkanal districts, traffic on this route has increased manifold. The State Government has been demanding the NHAI for further widening of this route in view of movement of large number of heavy vehicles. The petitions committee chaired by Pabhunath Singh met at Delhi recently and sought to know from the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways about the delay in four-laning the road. The NHAI officials reportedly told the committee that the proposal of the State had been approved. After survey on traffic intensity on the route, the 107-km stretch between Manguli and Angul has been been identified for four-laning. The Ministry has made a budgetary provision of Rs 2.3 crore in the current year�s budget for feasibility study and preparation of detailed project report (DPR). Steps have been taken to engage a consultant for DPR preparation. … Dharmendra Pradhan, a member of the committee, reportedly suggested that the four-laning should be done up to Jarpada in view of the steel project coming up there. However, the Ministry officials said that there is no proposal for four-laning beyond Angul. On the development of 209-km-long NH-23 from Banarpal to Birmitrapur, the Ministry said that widening of 9- km road to two lane is in progress and the four-laning of Birmitrapur to Rajamunda depends of the traffic intensity. A consultant has been appointed for feasibility study.

Following are excerpts from a report in Times of India.

… NHAI state project director Aditya Kumar Ray said work has started on the flyovers at Rasulgarh and Fire Station and the construction similar projects at CRPF Square, Acharya Vihar and Vani Vihar will commence soon.

Except for the Rasulgarh project, the other flyovers will be similar to the one at Jaydev Vihar. The Rasulgarh flyover will have extra slopes to facilitate seamless traffic flow from Cuttack to Puri as well as on NH-5. It will be aesthetically designed as an entrance point to Bhubaneswar, he said.

… Sources said NHAI needed to acquire more land at Rasulgarh to execute the project. "We are in the process of acquiring some more land at Rasulgarh. Everywhere else in Bhubaneswar, the expansion will happen with the land already acquired," Ray said.

NHAI plans to construct vehicular underpasses at VSS Nagar, Vani Vihar railway overbridge (ROB), Pahal, Press Chowk. The pedestrian underpasses will be built at Kali temple, CRPF Chowk, Iskon temple, OCAC building, RTO office, University Law College and Rasulgarh.

Just outside Bhubaneswar, NHAI will construct flyovers at Phulnakhara, Khapuria, Jagatpur and Manguli in Cuttack. Work for three-lane bridges over the rivers Hansapal, Kathajodi, Mahanadi and Birupa has already started. "The bridges will be hopefully ready by 2014," Ray said.

The existing two-way bridges on these rivers will be made one way and the new bridges will be used for traffic going the other way. The NHAI had signed an agreement with Sri Jagannath Expressway Pvt Ltd, a concessionaire of three private firms (SREI, Simplex and GALFAR), on August 6, 2010, for widening and redevelopment of the 67-km-long Bhubaneswar-Chandikhol section of the Kolkata-Chennai highway. The road will be constructed to sustain vehicular traffic at a speed of 100 km per hour. However, the actual speed limit will be decided by the civic administration, the NHAI official said.

The project will cost Rs 1,047 crore and NHAI will provide Rs 205 crore. The developer will generate the rest of the funds through design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. "The developer will maintain the road for 26 years,” Ray said.

Once the construction is over, the developer will collect toll from the road users. According to initial estimates, heavy vehicles will have to pay something over Rs 100 and light vehicles would be charged an amount between Rs 80 to Rs 100.

… At present, over 5,000 heavy vehicles pass through the national highway in the city every day. To reduce the traffic load within Bhubaneswar, police divert the vehicles towards Cuttack from Pitapalli via Chandaka. Sources said NHAI has plans to make a bypass road from Khurda to Tangi bypassing Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The construction of a 75-km ring road circling the capital is likely to begin in two months. 

… Sources said in the first phase of the project a 13km road would be built from Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital Square to Lingipur near the Daya Bridge on the outskirts of the city.

With tenders having been finalised, the work is likely to begin in the next two months. Sources said that the project will be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 35.09 crore and would be completed in two years. 

… the ring road would help address the communication needs of the city besides acting as a buffer against occasional floods. All the major roads of the city would join the ring road at one point or another.

… once the road materialised the traffic congestion between Rasulgarh Square and Samantarapur would be reduced significantly. This will be an additional support to the National Highway-203 bypass road, which is bearing the brunt of the traffic currently.

… Foundation stone for two more feeder roads, which would ultimately join the ring road, was also laid yesterday. While one of these would involve two-laning of an existing road between Kalpana Square-Jagannath Ashram, the other one would be a four-lane road stretch from Ravi Talkies Square to Sai temple. …

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

… The first preparatory meet for Nabakalebara was chaired by Chief Minister, was attended by P K Mohapatra, RDC, U N Behera Principal Secretary Home, Aditya Prasad Padhi Principal Secretary to CM.

… A Four Lane National Highway is progressing from Bhubaneswar (Rasulgarh) to Puri (Sipasarubali) with almost half the road will be new alignment. 

Meeting decided to approach National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) to develop Four Lanning of Puri-Konark and Puri-Satapada Road. 

Secondly at least seven roads will be taken up for Four Lanning, which include Pipili-Konark, Charichhak-Niali-Phulanakhara, Balighai-Gop, Pipili-Jatnai, Chandanpur-Rameswar, Bira Harekrishnapur-Talabania and Bira Harekrishnapur-Rahangiria Roads.

… There is a need for creating more hotel and lodging rooms, for which appropriate Government land has to be provided to the promoters adopting transparent procedure.

The following maps show the location of some of the names mentioned above.

One interesting point to note is that Puri district’s area is 3,479 sq. km, which is comparable to Goa’s 3,702 sq km. Population wise they are also comparable. Goa’s population is 1.4 million while Puri district’s population is about 1.5 million.

Past the Nabakalebar in 2015, the Odisha government may think of building up on the infrastructure and try to benchmark Puri district with respect to Goa. It may also consider to make it a special district with some special laws that will allow it the flexibility to become as big a tourist hub (or bigger) than Goa, minus the negatives.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The work on five major National Highway (NH) projects in the state- Bhubaneswar-Puri, Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole, Sambalpur-Bargarh and Remudi-Rajamunda (NH-215) will begin in February 2011. While work on four-laning of the Bhubaneswar-Puri NH is expected to be completed soon, the remaining projects will be commissioned within three years."The work on these NH projects will commence in February 2011 and the projects are expected to be commissioned within three years. The work is being taken up on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and the cost assessment will be made by NHAI. …

While work will be taken up for four-laning of Bhubaneswar-Puri (60 km) and Sambalpur-Bargarh (88-km) NHs, the Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole (62 km) highways will be six laned. As per the thumb rule Rs 4 crore will be spent per km on building these highways.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The traffic woes of the people commuting between Rasulgarh and Samantarapur are likely to come to an end with the construction of the proposed 11km bypass road from Bhuasuni temple to Daya bridge.

Part of the 67.25km NH-203 project, the bypass road will not only provide better and faster communication facilities to the people of 11 villages from Pandra to the Daya bridge near Lingipur, but also help commuters between Cuttack and Puri avoid the congested capital. The project will be undertaken by the Bhubaneswar Expressway Pvt. Ltd, for which tenders have been finalised.

Project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Aditya Kumar Ray said the bypass road has been proposed specifically to address the traffic problem on the stretch from Rasulgarh and Samntarapur. …

… Ray said though the work is supposed to start from January 30, land acquisition problems were likely to cause some delay and ultimately the project may kick off in the first week of February.

… The project is likely to be over in two and a half years. To be executed in the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) mode, the road would be handed over to the NHAI by the operators after 29 years.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Centre would provide Rs716 crore under ‘Viability Gap Funding’ for infrastructure development of the PCPIR (Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region) hub to be set up at Paradip in Orissa.

“The Centre would provide this money in two phases. While Rs388 crore would come in the first phase of the project, the balance Rs328 crore would be provided by the Government of India in the second phase”, an official source told Business Standard.

The funds to be provided by the Centre under ‘Viability Gap Funding’, will be utilized for various infrastructure projects of the PCPI hub like six-laning of NH-5 (A), building a greenfield coastal corridor, construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip \and upgradation of port infrastructure.

The six-laning of the NH-5 (A) will be taken up in the second phase of the PCPIR project at a cost of Rs76 crore. The greenfield coastal corridor will involve an expenditure of Rs410 crore out of which Rs 264 will be invested in the first phase while the remaining expenditure of Rs146 crore will be incurred in Phase-II.

The construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip will be taken up at a cost of Rs190 crore while Rs40 crore would be provided by the Centre for upgradation of port infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Orissa government has committed an expenditure of Rs1796 crore on infrastructure development for the PCPIR hub. Out of the envisaged expenditure of Rs1796 crore, Rs 754 crore will be spent on development of arterial roads, Rs 465 crore on water supply, Rs 410 crore on power distribution and Rs136 crore on canal upgradation.

The PCPIR project in the state would be set up on 284.15 sq km (70,214 acres) of land spread over Jagatsnghpur and Kendrapara districts. The PCPIR hub is expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs2.74 lakh crore.

Phase-I work of the project is expected to be completed by 2015 while the entire project is scheduled for commissioning by 2030.

Of the expected overall investment figure of Rs2.74 lakh crore, the lion’s share would come from the petroleum and petrochemicals sectors at Rs2.3 lakh crore followed by housing and allied infrastructure at Rs23,500 crore, external infrastructure at Rs13,634 crore and Rs3,500 crore each for chemicals & fertilizers and ancillary sectors.

The mega project is set to create employment for 6.48 lakh people which includes direct employment for 2.27 lakh people and indirect employment for 4.41 lakh others.

The turnover of this PCPIR hub is estimated at Rs4.23 lakh crore with an export potential of Rs 43,000 crore. The PCPIR hub is expected to generate taxes to the tune of Rs 42,000 crore and contribute six per cent to Orissa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

… This refinery cum petrochemical complex which needs 3300 acres of land, is scheduled for commissioning by March 2012.

The land acquisition process for PCPIR is on the fast track with the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco), the nodal agency for the project having filed requisition for 90 per cent of the total land requirement in .

This is really great. Especially, the part about a greenfield coastal road.  Odisha has been demanding such a road for a long time. I think eventually it will run all the way from Dhamara-Paradeep-Astaranga-Konark-Puri-Baliharchandi-across Chilika to Gopalpur. From Dhamara to the North they can put this road together with the National Waterway.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Five upcoming flyovers between Baramunda and Palasuni on National Highway 16 will reduce the commuting time of the city’s passengers in the future.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned to construct flyovers at important junctions like Fire station, CRP Square, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh.

These four-lane flyovers are expected to ease traffic problems along the Kolkata-Chennai highway (NH 16).

NHAI project director Aditya Kumar Ray said here today that an agreement was signed between Sri Jagannath Expressway Pvt. Ltd and the NHAI on August 6 for redevelopment project of the 67-kilometre stretch between Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Chandikhol. The five fly-overs are part of the project.

“The total cost of the project would be around Rs 1,250 crore and the construction period will be two and half years. Sri Jagannath Expressway Pvt. Ltd will also take care of the maintenance of the road for 26 years (including the project execution period) as per the agreement,’’ Ray said.

“While the preliminary work will begin from October, the final work will start from December. We will try to make it a point that construction work along the entire stretch finishes on time,” he said.

… “These upcoming flyovers will have controlled access to the highway. Commuters will have to take turns at the respecting connecting roads to reach their destinations. There is also a plan to include construction of new flyovers at Phulnakhara, and Link Road-Khapuria starting from Kathjodi bridge and Manguli,’’ he added.

NH 16, which was earlier NH 5, has been clubbed with NH 60 (the Lakshman Nath-Balasore highway). Gazette notification has already been made on this highway as it falls under the Golden Quadrilateral project.

According to sources, in the past there was a plan by the NHAI to construct three flyovers at Khurda, Khandagiri and Baramunda. However, only the flyover project at Baramunda was realised, while the Khandagiri flyover plan was shifted to Jayadev Vihar to meet public demand.

As mentioned in the last paragraph, currently that stretch of NH-5 (to be called NH 16) has a flyover at Jayadev Vihar and at Baramunda. With the proposed flyovers at Fire station, CRP Square, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh the stretch from Rasulgarh to Baramunda would be smooth sailing without any traffic stops. See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100813/images/13zzflyoverbig.jpg for a graphics of this stretch. The flyovers at Phulnakhara, and Link Road-Khapuria would make the streatch from central Cuttack to past Bhubaneswar without any traffic stops.

Following is from a report in Pioneer:

The six-laning work of the Bhubaneswar–Chandikhol portion of the National Highway-5 will begin from September, after this rainy season. A sum of Rs 1,047 crore will be invested for the project under the NHDP Phase-5. A consortium has been formed with three private companies, and the contract awarded, an official of NHAI said.

The consortium of Srei, Gulfar and Simplex Infrastructure would undertake the project, which is scheduled to be completed in two and a half years’ period. This would be done on the BOT basis. After completion of the work, the consortium would maintain the road and collect toll for a period of 26 years.

After the four-laning work of the NH-5, this is the first stretch within Odisha to have six lanes. The distance from Bhubaneswar to Chandikhol is 67 km, which would have seven flyovers and four major bridges over the river Kathjodi, Kuakhai, Mahanadi and Birupa. Out of the seven flyovers, four would be built over the CRP, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh squares along the highway in Bhubaneswar.

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=61621.

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure today approved the implementation of the project of four laning of Sambalpur-Orissa/Chhatisgarh section of NH-6 and Bhubaneshwar-Puri Section of NH-203 in the State of Orissa under NHDP Phase III on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT ) pattern.

The total project cost of Sambalpur-Bargarh-Orissa/Chhatisgarh Border is estimated at Rs.909 crore under the DBFO pattern. The concession period of the project shall be for 30 years including a construction period of 30 months.

The total project cost of Bhubaneshwar-Puri section is estimated at Rs.505.29 crore under the DBFO pattern. The concession period of the project shall be for 29 years including a construction period of 30 months.

The project will reduce the time and cost of travel of the traffic, particularly heavy traffic running between Sambalpur to Orissa/Chhatisgarh border and the traffic running from Bhubaneshwar to Puri. It will also increase the potential of employment to local labourers for the project activities.

The project of Sambalpur to Orissa/Chhatisgarh border is major link to the Chhatisgarh and the project of Bhubaneshwar-Puri is major road to link the pilgrim place.

BACKGROUND:

The Cabinet had approved four/six laning of 4000 Km. of National Highways under NHDP Phase IIIA on BOT basis in March, 2005. Subsequently, approval for additional stretches was granted in May, 2006, October, 2006 and April, 2007 for implementation of four laning for a total length of 12109 Km. at an estimated cost of Rs.80626 crore.

See the previous postings on this topic to get a broader picture of highway plans with respect to Odisha. In particular, see the following:

• Plans for four laning of Sambalpur-Rourkela.
• http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2651
• Six laning of Chandikhol-Jagatpur.
• Various four laning projects with maps.
• Fourlaning of Angul-Sambalpur.

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47065.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved for the six laning of following nine stretches for a total length 1409.93 km costing Rs.18238.05 crore under NHDP Phase V on DBFOT basis:

No.	Section	State	NH No.	Length	Total Project Cost including cost of LA, R&R, pre- constr. (Rs. crore)	Concession Period in-cluding construction period of 30 months
1	Delhi-Agra	UP/Haryana	2	179.10	2494.00	26 years
2	Kishangarh-Udaipur	Rajasthan	79A, 79 & 76	315	3597.47	29 years
3	Chandikhol-Jagatpur-Bhubaneshwar	Orissa	5	67.00	1104.00	27 years
4	Vijayawada-Elluru-Rajamundri	Andhra Pradesh	5	198.20	2751.15	30 years
5	Varanasi-Aurangabad	UP	2	192.40	2974.75	30 years
6	Nellore-Chilkaluripet	Andhra Pradesh	5	183.7	2433.90	30 years
7	Krishnagiri-Walahjpet	Tamil Nadu	46	148.30	1673.17	30 years
8	Belgaum-Dharwad	Karnataka	4	80.18	707.61	30 years
9	Indore-Dewas	MP	3	45.05	502.00	30 years

            The project will be developed by the NHAI through the PPP and the Concessionaire will be selected by NHAI following two stage bidding process.  The first stage of the bidding process i.e., pre-qualification of the bidders has already been completed by NHAI.  The second stage of bidding is in process.

Note, that Jajpur-Rd Duburi is also being 4-laned. With all these 4-laning, Kalinganagar area will be surrounded by four 4-lane segment: NH-5, NH-200, NH-215 and Jajpur Rd-Duburi.

(The above map fragment is from an wikipedia map.)

There will also be two four lane paths from Kalinganagar area to Rourkela.

 With approved plans to four-lane NH 42 between Angul and Sambalpur, the state govt. needs to four lane the segment between Angul and Talcher to have a seamless 4-lane transition between NH-42 and NH-200 at Angul-Talcher.

There is plan to four-lane Bhubaneswar-Puri. The Orissa government should pursue the four-laning of the following:

• NH-42 from Cuttack to Angul
• NH-23 from Talcher to NH-6

The Orissa government should team up with Jharkhand to 4-lane

• NH-23 from Rourkela to Ranchi
• NH-83 from Jamshedpur to NH-6
• NH-5 between NH-6 and Balasore (the last two need for port access in the upcoming ports in the Balasore district)

The Orissa government should team up with West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Maharashtra for four-laning NH-6 completely.

These actions will 4-lane the upper part of Orissa with fairly direct 4-lane paths from many areas of Orissa to Delhi and Mumbai. (Fairly direct 4-lane connections exist between Orissa to the south and Kolkata.)

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=46329.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for the development of 4 laning of (i) Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli, (ii) Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra sections of NH-215 and (iii) Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section of NH-200 in the State of Orissa under NHDP Phase III A on BOT Basis.

The project cost of (i) Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli section (163 km) is estimated as Rs.1170.59 crore including Rs.84.40 crore towards Land Acquisition (LA), Rehabilitation and Resettlement and preconstruction. Similarly, the estimated cost for Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra (106 km) and Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section (133 km) are Rs.849.05 crore and Rs.969.63 crore respectively. The cost towards LA, R&R and preconstruction of other two projects are Rs.195.29 crore and Rs.185.63 crore respectively. The Government would provide the viability gap funding (VGF), which would not exceed 40% of the total project cost excluding the cost of LA, R&R and pre-construction.

The project will be developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through the Private Sector Concessionaires who will be selected by NHAI following two stage bidding process. The first stage of the bidding process i.e. pre-qualification of the bidders has already been completed by NHAI. The second stage of bidding process is in progress.

The Concession period for the Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli section will be 20 years. For Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section and Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra section the concession period is 18 and 25 years respectively.

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Following is an from a PTI report in Hindu.

Orissa government has asked the Centre to adopt a long term plan for Kandhamal, prone to ethno-communal violence instead of seeking any quick solution, official sources said on Tuesday.

Orissa’s suggestion came after the high-level central team headed by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, which visited Kandhamal today, sought to know what assistance was needed in mitigating the problems there.

"The Centre wants to support Orissa in building confidence among all sections of the people in Kandhamal," Pawar told reporters after the team arrived here yesterday.

Identifying backwardness in education, lack of connectivity and poor livelihood means as the cause behind the ethno-communal violence in Kandhamal, Orissa government asked the Centre to set up a campus of the National Tribal University, Amarkantak at Phulbani, the district headquarter town.

"As scheduled tribes constitute 52 per cent of Kandhamal’s population, it is proposed to have one Ekalavya model residential school (EMRS) in each block to cater to the needs of tribal children," a report sbubmitted to the central team by the state government said.

This apart, the state government also asked for at least six schedule caste hostels to cater the children of SCs who comprise 17 per cent of the total population in the district .

Stating that connectivity was the main obstacle for the administration proper deployment of security force, it said NH 217 which passed through Kandhamal need to be double laned.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to slow down the process of awarding contracts for new highway projects. This would further delay the process of modernisation and expansion of the national highways by a few months.

The slowdown has happened following a writ petition filed by the National Highway Builders Federation (NBHF) in the Delhi High Court, challenging the new Model Concession Agreement (MCA) introduced by the finance ministry. The agreement restricts pre-qualified bidders from participating in the final bidding process.

The NHAI has already invited pre-qualification applications for around nine projects worth Rs 6,700 crore, but is yet to award the final contracts.

Major projects include four laning of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada section on NH-9 in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of about Rs 1,460 crore, four laning of the Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimuli section on NH-215 in Orissa at a cost of Rs 1,086 crore, and four laning of the Chandikhole- Dubari-Talcher section on NH-200 in Orissa.

The NHAI has also invited pre-qualification applications for around 27 projects worth Rs 30,000 crore, which will be submitted by June.