___________

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.

*****

AD/SH/LV

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.

Update: Pioneer reports that ‘"The NHAI has agreed to provide funds immediately to take up the widening and strengthening the NH-215 from Panikoeli to Rajmunda. Rs 96 crore will be spent for this purpose. The tender process for the four laning would start soon."

In recent years there has been a big jump in the number of kilometers of national highways in Orissa. Following is copied from my page "Roads and Highways infrastructure in Orissa."

Road network: Orissa Roads1; Orissa Roads2; India’s NH network; India’s golden quadrilateral; the part of the GQ/NH-5 that runs through Orissa.

• National Highways in Orissa and India; its growth in recent years:
  • NH 5: Junction with NH No.6 in Jharkhand near Baharagora-Baripada-Baleshwar-Bhadrakh-Cuttack- Bhubaneswar-Khordha-Chhatrapur-Brahmapur- upto Andhra Pradesh Border. (488 kms)
  • NH 5A: Junction with NH No.5 near Haridaspur-Paradip Port. (77 kms)
  • NH 6: From Chhattisgarh Border-Lobarchatti- Bargarh – Sambalpur-Deogarh-Barakot- Kendujhargarh -Jashipur-Bangriposi-upto Jharkhand Border (462 kms)
  • NH 23: From Jharkhand Border-Panposh-Raurkela- Rajamundra-Barakot- Pala Laharha-Talcher-Jn. with NH-42 (209 kms)
  • NH 42: Junction with NH No.6 near Sambalpur- Redhakhol-Anugul-Dhenkanal- Jn. with NH-5 near Cuttack. (261 kms)
  • NH 43: From Chhattisgarh Border- Dhanpunji- Borigma- Jaypur-Koraput-Sunki- Andhra Pradesh Border. (152 kms)
  • NH 60: From West Bengal Border- Jaleswar – Baleshwar (57 kms)
  • NH 75: From Jharkhand Border to junction with NH No.215 near Parsora (18 kms)
  • NH 200: From Chhattisgarh-Machida-Jharsuguda- Kochinda- Deogarh -Talcher-Kamakhyanagar-Sukinda- Chandhikhol (440 kms)
  • NH 201: Boriguma-Ampani-Bhawanipatna- Belgan- Balangir-Luisinga-Jogisuruda-Dunguripali-Bargarh (310 kms)
  • NH 203: Bhubaneshwar-Pipili-Puri-Konark (97 kms)
  • NH 203A: The highway starting from its junction with NH-203 at Puri, connecting Bramhagiri and terminating at Satpada (49 kms)
  • NH 215: Panikoli-Anandapur-Ghatgan- Kendujhargarh- Parsora-Koira-Rajamundra (348 kms)
  • NH 217: From Chhattisgarh Border-Nauparha-Khariar- Titlagarh-Belgan- Ramapur- Baligurha-Sorada-Asika- Brahmapur- Narendrapur- Gopalpur (438 kms)
  • NH 224: Khordha-Nayagarh-Dashapalla- Purunakatak-Bauda-Sonapur-Balangir (298 kms)
• Vijaywada-Ranchi highway (approved by planning commission as reported in May 2006), [July 06] [The Orissa government has been demanding a NH from Vijaywada to Ranchi which will pass through the Naxal infested areas. 1200 km of this 2000km will be in Orissa. CM talked to planning comission about it.]
• Ongoing National Highway work in Orissa
• Future plans for Orissa: [1:april-28-05]; [2:april-28-05].
• Various phases of NHDP: [1]; [2]; [3]
• Other highway plans:
  • 4 laning of Chandikhol-Paradip by February-end of 2007
  • 4 laning of Keonjhar-Panikoili, Duburi-Talcher, Cuttack-Paradeep and Duburi-Keonjhar Highways. [June17-05-Pragativadi]
• Aim-for-with-high-priority/parts-of-it-in-Orissa-govt- plan(page4)-already:
  • Connect NH 215 (perhaps at Jajpur Rd) to Jenapur to NH200 (where it meets Brahmani) with a highway as Jenapur is the location where the National waterway will cross the railway line and Jenapur is 7 kms from where a branch of the line goes to Daitari and Bansapani.
  • Designate AP-border-Koraput-Raygada-Padampur- Berhampur (in NH5) as a National highway. (This will bring Koraput and Raygada, thus a big part of KBK, closer to BBSR) — a slight revision of what is in the plan
  • Designate Anandpur (NH 215)-Bhadrak-Dhamara port as an NH. (This will bring Dhamara port closer to Jharkhand, thus helping industries in Jharkhand and Orissa.)
  • Jagatpur-Kendrapara-Chandbali-Dhamara — make it an NH (alternative route to Dhamara port)
  • Panikoili/Kuakhia-Jajpur-Aradi-Chandabali — make it an NH (alternative route to Dhamara port)
  • Panikoili-Jajpur-Kendrapara-NH5a-Paradeep — make it an NH (alternative to Paradeep port)
• Orissa State Road Transport Company (OSRTC)
• Wide city roads:
  • Four-laning of the Airport-Dhamana Chhaka road in Bhubaneswar: [1]
  • Other Bhubaneswar Road plans: [1], [2]
• Bhubaneswar area road plans:
  • Being pursued: BBSR-Barang-Khuntuni-NH42; alternate route to Bhubaneswar-Cuttack via Barang; Khurda-Cuttack bypass via Pitapalli; Bhubaneswar (Uttara chhack) to Paradeep highway (Uttara chhack map)
  • Should be pursued: Bhubaneswar-Khurda Rd station (already some Puri-Adi trains bypass Bhubaneswar. So Khurda Rd could be an alternative reliever station for Bhubaneswar. Then this road would be very important.); Patia station to Pahala in NH5 (this would be a third alternative to Bhubaneswar-Cuttack especially from the hot area of KIIT, Infocity, etc.)