The Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued tender for the widening and strengthening of the Kuakhia and Mangalpur road section in Jajpur district of Odisha. The scope of work involves strengthening of the two-lane highway to four-lane with paved shoulders from 0.00 km to 35.800 km of NH-20 between Kuakhia and Mangalpur on EPC basis.
The estimated value of the project is Rs 341.73 crore with completion period of 24 months.
Earlier, in April 2022, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had sanctioned Rs 822.62 crore for expansion of two ongoing highways in Odisha. An amount of Rs 636.1 crore has been sanctioned for NH-20 and Rs 186.52 crore for NH-326. The sanctioned amount for NH-20 will be utilised for land acquisition, expansion, and strengthening of the two-lane highway to four-lane with paved shoulders between Kuakhia and Mangalpur in Jajpur district. And another project expansion of the Dhaugaon to Podamari stretch of two-lane NH-326 will be carried out along with the paved shoulder works. NH-326 starts from its junction with NH-59 near Aska connecting Rayagada, Koraput, Jeypore, Malkangiri, and Motu in Odisha and terminating on NH-30 near Chinturu in Andhra Pradesh.
