Cabinet nod to Rs 8,300cr Bhubaneswar bypass road project; to ease congestion on NH-16

Time of India

2 days ago

Bhubaneswar: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the construction of a six-lane access-controlled 'Capital Region Ring Road' — Bhubaneswar bypass stretching 110.875km — at a total cost of Rs 8,307.74 crore.
Disclosing the Cabinet decision, information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the bypass road was a long-pending demand to ease traffic congestion on NH-16 between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, part of the Golden Quadrilateral project. "It's a very important project and part of the Prime Minister's Purvodaya vision," the minister said, adding it will be a very modern project, with construction to be completed in two and a half years.
The project cost includes the repair and maintenance cost for 15 years.
CM Mohan Charan Majhi said, "The landmark infrastructure project will significantly strengthen connectivity, decongest major urban centres, enhance logistics efficiency, and open new avenues for economic growth and prosperity in Odisha and the eastern region."
The project will be executed in the hybrid annuity mode (HAM), which is a public-private model in which the govt pays 40% of the cost during the construction phase while the developer invests the remaining 60%.
The govt repays the 60% cost with interest over a period of 15-20 years after the completion of the project as annuity payments, and the developer doesn't collect tolls. Toll collection from projects developed under HAM is the responsibility of the govt.
Currently, connectivity between Rameshwar and Tangi on the NH-16 experiences significant congestion due to the high traffic volumes passing through the highly urbanised cities of Khurda, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
To address these challenges, the project is proposed to be developed as a six-lane greenfield highway. The project will provide significant benefits to Odisha and other eastern states by diverting heavy commercial traffic away from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda on the Kolkata-Chennai corridor. It will enhance the efficiency of freight movement, reducing logistics costs and driving socio-economic growth in the region.
The project alignment integrates with three major national highways (NH-55 connecting Sambalpur and Cuttack, the Balangir-Khurda NH-57, and Angul-Athagarh-Krushnashyampur NH-655) and state highway (SH-65), which connects Narasinghpur with Athagarh. The ring road will provide seamless connectivity to key economic, social and logistics nodes across Odisha.
Additionally, the upgraded corridor will enhance multi-modal integration by connecting with 10 economic nodes, 4 social nodes, and 5 logistic nodes, providing enhanced multimodality with Khurda Road railway station, Bhubaneswar airport, and the proposed multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) at Paradip, besides the proposed Astarang port, thereby facilitating faster movement of goods and passengers across the region.
The project will also generate around 74.43 lakh person-days of direct and 93.04 lakh person-days of indirect employment. Upon completion, the bypass will play a pivotal role in regional economic growth, strengthening connectivity between major religious and economic centres and opening new avenues for trade and industrial development and prosperity in the surrounding regions.
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