Odisha agrees to upgrade Bhadrak-Dhamra port road to NH

The state works department has agreed to a proposal of Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) to upgrade the existing road between Jamdihi on the Kolkata-Chennai trunk road and the port area into National Highway (NH).

It has asked the office of the chief engineer for road construction to submit a proposal in this regard.

"Proposal may be sent to this department for upgrading the above road (Jamjhadi-Basudevpur-Dhamra) to national highway," the works department said in a letter to the chief engineer earlier this week.

Dhamra port, which started commercial operation in 2011, had proposed to develop the road in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode into a two lane state highway, which links the port with NH5 at Jamdihi. The state government came up with a Request for Proposal (RFP) tender for the work in 2012, and so far almost a third of the entire 60 km odd length has been upgraded to state highway.

"Work for the state highways is going on in full swing mode and should be completed by next year or so. Only after it is upgraded to a state highway, then the road can be developed into an NH as per the rules," said Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, chief executive officer (CEO) of DPCL.

In September this year, the company requested the state government to make a proposal to the Centre for upgrading the road as a national highway. According to sources, the government would send a proposal soon in this regard to the Union surface transport ministry for getting the approval.

"The state highway can be used for passenger transportation purpose as we have a port and a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) stationed at Dhamra. We can think of cleaner cargo traffic once it is expanded into a four lane NH in 3-4 years time," Mohapatra added.

The port is situated at roughly 120 Km away from coal bearing areas and at approximately similar distance from iron ore rich Daitari region. Besides, several power plants and steel plants located in Kalinganagar area are situated at less than 80 km from the port. The non-major private port mostly deals with coal, coking coal and limited iron ore traffic.

It is currently using its 62 km private rail line to bring in and send out coal cargo and expects the proposed waterway which will connect the port with NTPC power stations through a web of river and canals, will add to the coal traffic. The upgraded road, once completed, can be used to transport cleaner cargo such as finished steel and containerised merchandise, the CEO added.