The tender for the ambitious outer ring road project here has been floated.The length of the proposed outer ring road, which will be built under the Centre’s Bharatmala programme is around 37.82 km. The project, which will resolve the traffic problem in Sambalpur city, has been estimated to cost Rs 947 crore.
Project director of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), K Nageswar Rao said, “The tender process for the project will be completed and the bid will be finalised by July this year and subsequently, it will be placed before the project approval technical scrutiny committee. And the work on the project will start once it is approved by the committee,” he said. Rao said if everything goes as per plan, work on the project will start by September this year, he said.
Altogether 290 hectare of land, including 170 hectare private land and 120 hectare government land, will be required for the project. “The land acquisition process for the project is almost over. The process to make the payment to people, whose lands have been acquired, will be initiated shortly. Land of people of around 19 villages surrounding Sambalpur city have been acquired for it,” said Rao.
Official sources said the proposed outer ring road will originate from the National Highway-53 at Goshala and connect the Sambalpur-Rourkela Biju Expressway at Ranikhinda in Sason area, on the outskirts of Sambalpur city, passing through different villagers, including Malti Gunderpur, Maneswar, Jayantpur, Sindurpankh and Tabla.
The proposed outer ring road will meet the NH-53, SH-15, Biju Expressway and NH-55 (Cuttack-Sambalpur road) at different places.
The heavy vehicles coming on NH-53, NH-55 and Biju Expressway will not need to enter Sambalpur city after the outer ring road is built. Moreover, implementation of the project will also pave way for the city’s expansion
