For the safe travel of passengers and to check disruption in traffic movement due to landslides, a concrete tunnel will come up on the Mumbai-Kolkata National Highway-53 at Laxmi Dungri area in Sambalpur city.
Project director, NHAI, Sambalpur, K Nageswar Rao said, “The geotechnical survey for the construction of the tunnel is under way. The design will be prepared once the surveyis over. The tunnel will be constructed on one section of the four-lane highway. It will be constructed on the part of the highway which runs along Laxmi Dungri.”
The National Highway Authorities of India has been granted around Rs 37 crore for the tunnel project. Rao said if everything goes as per plan, work on the tunnel will commence by September this year.