Union Petroleum and natural gas, Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday urged upon Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene…
Dharmendra Pradhan
Union Petroleum and natural gas, Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday urged upon Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene and expedite process of providing necessary partiuclars sought by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with regards to 2526 km of potential national highway network in the state.
In a letter to the CM, Mr Pradhan said he had reviewed the state of roads in Odisha with officials of the Ministry of road transport and highways and NHAI.
It was brought to his notice that the Ministry has moved Odisha government to furnish requisite details on the potential highway.
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The centre is committed to expeditious development and doubling of the existing national highway network in Odisha to bolster connectivity and enable the state to realize its economic potential, noted Pradhan.
Odisha has existing 4,847 km of NH network with 1,912 km entrusted with NHAI and 2,935 km entrusted with PWD.
In addition, a further 494 km of NH network has been declared and shall be entrusted to the NHAI/PWD to undertake the work soon.
Further, a total of 1278 kilometers has been accorded in principle approval for NH and PWD has been entrusted with the DPR work said Pradhan.
Under the ambitious Bharatmala project 485 km has been approved and its DPR work has been taken up by the NHAI. 324 kilometers of road have been approved under NH connectivity for backward areas/Religious/Tourist places (BRT) Scheme and DPR work for the same has also been undertaken by the NHAI.
In addition to these, various other roads adding up to 2526 km have been identified for having potential for development as national highways, taking the total length of existing, under implementation and planned national highway network in Odisha to 9954 kilometers.
The ruling BJD spokespersons here said it was amusing, to the say the least, that Pradhan undertook a review of the road transport ministry.
It seems Mr Nitin Gadkari has given state-wise charge to different BJP leaders and ministerial colleagues, chided the BJD circles here.
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