Rayagada, Sept 8: In a major infrastructure boost to Rayagada, the Odisha Cabinet has approved four road-widening projects involving 113.386 km of key corridors at a total cost of ₹795.96 crore, paving the way for their upgrade into four-lane divided roads.
The decision is expected to substantially improve connectivity across the tribal-dominated district, facilitate movement of agricultural and forest produce, strengthen industrial logistics and provide faster access to healthcare, education and administrative services.
District Collector Ashutosh Kulkarni, while announcing the development at a press conference here on Tuesday, thanked Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for approving the long-pending road infrastructure projects.
The approved works include widening of the 25.166-km Rayagada-Kereda road at a cost of ₹186.19 crore; the 30-km Kommatalapeta-Muniguda-Tumudibandha stretch of SH-05 at ₹212.11 crore; a further 32.18-km stretch of SH-05 at ₹201.48 crore; and 26.04 km of the Bhawanipatna-Muniguda road (SH-06) at ₹196.18 crore.
The four projects will cover 92 villages and 25 Gram Panchayats, according to officials.
The expansion is expected to ease traffic bottlenecks and improve the movement of goods between Rayagada and neighbouring districts. It will also benefit the district’s industrial belt, where large-scale alumina, paper and ferrochrome operations depend heavily on road-based transportation.
For rural and tribal communities, better road connectivity is likely to translate into easier access to markets and essential services, besides reducing travel time to major healthcare and educational centres.
The Collector said the administration would continue to work towards ensuring smooth implementation of the projects, with Gram Sabha processes completed for several stretches and land acquisition progressing in others.
The massive road investment is also expected to give a shot in the arm to the Rayagada district administration, particularly in accelerating the delivery of ongoing welfare schemes and development programmes in remote areas. Improved connectivity could help officials reach beneficiaries more efficiently, strengthen field-level monitoring and speed up implementation of government programmes in the coming days.
The projects, officials said, are thus expected to emerge as a key component of Rayagada’s broader development push, besides giving a fresh impetus to its rural economy and industrial growth.
