Bhubaneswar: It took more than six years for the Odisha government and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to finalise the alignment of the much-awaited Coastal Highway passing through the state.
The 382-km-long highway will pass through Tangi (NH-16), Brahmagiri, Puri, Konark, Astarang, Naugaon, Paradip Port, Ratanpur, Satabhaya, Dhamra, Basudevpur, Talapada, Chandipur, Chandaneswar and Digha.
The Works department has informed the NHAI about its consent to the above alignment of the project Saturday.
The alignment has been proposed mostly as green field project avoiding forests, Balukhand Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhitarkanika National Park and the turtle nesting grounds, so as to minimise its impact on the environment, sources said.
Earlier, it was proposed that the Coastal Highway would start from Gopalpur cross Satapada to Chilika lake. Now it will start from Tangi on NH-16 and avoid the eco-sensitive area of Chilika lake.
The alignment of the 430-km-long highway in Odisha was modified to 382 km. The state government has asked the NHAI to include the NH from Brahmagiri to Satapada in the project.
Further, adequate cross drainage structures should be constructed to allow passage or runoff, Works Additional Secretary Hemanta Kumar Dutta wrote to the Chief General Manager (Technical) of NHAI Ram Prasad Panda
in this regard. Dutta also urged Panda to consult with the Water Resources department of the state government during the design phase of the Coastal Highway project.
Implementation of the highway is considered to be one of the top priority infrastructure projects of the state keeping in view its socio-economic impact and connectivity to the nearby ports, he said.
The NHAI officials have been directed to expedite the work for early completion of the project.
“Now, all the bottlenecks of the project have been cleared. The project will be taken up in two phases. We are trying to complete the tendering process for at least one stretch by next March so that work can start by June,” Panda told Orissa POST.
In April 2015, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced the Coastal Highway project during one of his visits to the state. After that the project was delayed due to a political slugfest between the BJD and the BJP.
Later, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change refused to accord approval to the alignment of the highway. Originally, it was between Gopalpur and Digha.
Now, the coastal highway will start from Tangi in Khurda district and continue till Digha in West Bengal. A total of 150 structures will be constructed for the project.
Those would include 20 major bridges, 69 minor bridges, four rail overbridges, five vehicle underpasses and two flyovers, sources said.
PNN