Khurda Road-Balangir rail line project gets Rs 625 crore allocation

Following is a report from the TOI:

BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has sanctioned the highest allocation of Rs 625 crore to Khurda Road-Balangir (289 km) new line project in the Union Budget 2018. It is one of the oldest and important projects of the state which will connect western Odisha with coastal part of the state.

The project was sanctioned in 1996-97, but the railway has completed only 66 km between Khurda Road and Nayagarh stations from Khurda Road side. It has not completed the first patch of 19 km from Balangir side. It has set a target to complete the project by March 2021. The state government has formed a joint venture with the Ministry of Railways to carry out the project.

On delay of the project, Umesh Singh, general manager of the East Coast Railway (ECoR), said a four-km patch of forest land between Nayagarh and Nuagaon has created problem in progress of the project. “We will solve this forest land issue with the state government and complete the work in the section soon,” he added.

Besides this, state has five other important projects include- Paradip-Haridaspur new line, Angul-Sukinda new line, Talcher-Bimalagarh new line, and doubling of two railway lines- Sambalpur-Titlagarh and Sambalpur-Talcher.

Angul-Sukinda new line (113 km) was sanctioned in 1997-98, but it is yet to be completed. A total of 38 per cent of the project is completed. Though the state government has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with Rail Vikash Nigam Limited (RVNL), Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) and Jindal Steel Power Limited to carry out the project with a cost of Rs 1750 crore, it will still take one more years to complete the project by June 2019. This year, the Angul-Sukinda project got Rs 200 crore like last year.

Another old and significant project is Paradip-Haridaspur new line (82km) which was sanctioned in 1996-97 got Rs 200 crore like last year. Only 80 per cent of the work has been completed till date. Railways sources said the project will be completed by June this year. Keeping the project delay in mind, the government has formed a SPV with the Railways.