#odishainfrastructure

NEW DELHI, India (August 19, 2025) – In a major infrastructure push for eastern India, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the construction of a new 6-Lane Access-Controlled Capital Region Ring Road around Bhubaneswar. The project, a 110.875 km greenfield highway, will be built on the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) at a total capital cost of Rs. 8,307.74 crore. The project, officially named the Bhubaneswar Bypass, is designed to address severe traffic congestion on the existing National Highway stretch between Rameshwar and Tangi. This critical corridor currently passes through the densely urbanised cities of Khordha, Bhubaneswar, and Cuttack, leading to significant delays and inefficiencies for both passenger and freight movement. Upon completion, the bypass will serve as a vital logistics corridor, diverting heavy commercial traffic away from city centers. This is expected to drastically reduce travel time, enhance the efficiency of freight movement, lower logistics costs, and improve air quality in the urban areas it bypasses. The new ring road is strategically designed to integrate with three major National Highways (NH-55, NH-57, and NH-655) and one State Highway (SH-65). This integration will provide seamless connectivity to key economic, social, and logistics hubs across Odisha. A key feature of the project is its enhanced multi-modal integration. The corridor will connect directly to: - 1 Major Railway Station (Khordha) - 1 Airport (Bhubaneswar) - 1 proposed Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) - 2 major Ports (Puri and Astrang) - 10 Economic Nodes, including a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Mega Food Park, and industrial clusters. - 04 Social Nodes, including an Aspirational District and a Tribal District. The government has highlighted the project's significant employment generation potential. The construction is expected to create approximately 74.43 lakh person-days of direct employment and an additional 93.04 lakh person-days of indirect employment, providing a substantial boost to the local economy. "This project will play a pivotal role in the regional economic growth of Odisha and other eastern states," a government spokesperson said. "It will strengthen connectivity between major religious and economic centres, open new avenues for trade and industrial development, and drive overall socio-economic prosperity in the region." The approval of the Bhubaneswar Bypass underscores the government's continued focus on developing world-class infrastructure to support economic growth and improve connectivity across the country. Read the full article