Bhubaneswar: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has given its approval to the ambitious Capital Region Ring Road project to be executed on the outskirts of the city. The project aims to ease traffic woes of the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

The project was hanging fire for the past three years in the wait for the approval of the central authority since a part of it will go through the property of the NHAI while the state government also needs the nod of the central government for such a big project.

Once completed, the proposed ring road will connect Nandankanan on the north, Pahala on the east, Dahuli on the south and Tamando on the west side of Bhubaneswar. It will be a 68.72-kilometer long road with a width of 60 meters. The project will be executed at a cost of Rs 1,200 crores.

In its approval letter to the public works department, the NHAI stated that the competent authority has approved the alignment of the Capital Region Ring Road for a length of 68.72 kilometres. "It is requested to instruct the consultant for preparation of a six-lane standard proposal for the stretch and submit the same at the earliest," reads the letter.

Earlier, the public works department, along with the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), had submitted the alignment for the project. The authorities proposed to acquire 760 acres of which about 690 acres is private land.

The authorities will acquire the land from as many as 67 mouzas of 13 revenue villages on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

These villages are Pahala, Dadha, Haridaspur, Banguary, Mancheswar, Saradeipur, Gelapur, Bijipur, Dhauli, Nakhaurapatna, Gobardhanpur, Gopinathpur and Uttarasasan.

"The NHAI has approved the alignment for the road. Now we will issue a public notification and go for land acquisition. In the meantime, our consultant will prepare the detail project report for the road. If all goes as per plans, we will be able to start the project next year," said an official of the works department.

The proposed ring road is expected to improve road communication between the twin cities and also lessen both the number of accidents and travel time. The road will distribute the traffic flow by integrating the national highway network of NH-5, NH-42, NH-224 and NH-203 that passes through the twin cities.

The state government will provide the land free of cost while the project will be executed in public-private-partnership mode. "It is necessary to increase the road network between the twin cities," said social worker Alok Mohanty.