Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has requested the Centre to sanction 19 road projects entailing a cost of Rs 762 crore to develop road infrastructure in the Naxal affected districts of the state.
“Despite sincere efforts made by the Orissa government in the past 5-7 years, there still exist large gaps in the road infrastructure, adversely affecting the process of industrialization and development in the state. Left Wing extremism in certain parts of the state has caused additional requirement of road network”, Patnaik said during his meeting with the Union minister for road transport and highways, Kamal Nath..
He also requested Nath to sanction Rs 425 crore for the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor in 2010-11 and asked him to sanction seven projects of 2009-10 and approve new projects for 2010-11 under the Central Road Fund.
Patnaik also called for sanctioning Rs 65 crore for projects under the Economic Importance Scheme and Rs 100 crore for projects under the Inter State Connectivity Scheme.
Besides, he demanded the construction of additional waterways of 1500 metres on NH-60 to counter water logging problems and sanction the four laning of NH-203 linking Bhubaneswar and Puri.
Patnaik informed the Union minister that the state government has taken all possible measures to develop the road network within the state to ensure balanced development of all sectors and to remove regional disparities.
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Nath complemented the state government for timely execution of works in the ongoing projects and assured that the specific requests made by the state chief minister will be considered favourably.
The Union minister agreed that special efforts are required for strengthening the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor and the road network in the districts affected by Left Wing extremism.