Bhubaneswar, March 16: Existing power supply lines in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will now go underground to ensure safety, better look and disaster resilience.

To begin with, only power lines along seven major roads in the two cities will be included in the project.

To be developed under the State Capital Region Improvement of Power System (Scrips), the project will be executed by the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited.

The tender process for four major roads in Bhubaneswar - Sachivalaya Marg, Bidyut Marg, Janpath and Cuttack Road - has been initiated. The project in the state capital will entail an estimated cost of Rs 220-222 crore.

For the three roads in Cuttack, a detailed project report will be prepared shortly to work out the cost of the ambitious plan.

However, those who have the experience of carrying out such projects say that the approximate cost for the Cuttack phase of the plan will around Rs 350 crore. The project will include stretches between Link Road and Badambadi, College Square and Buxi Bazar and Cuttack Development Authority sector 7 and 8.

General manager of the power utility and Scrips nodal officer Nihar Pradhan said: 'Once the underground cabling is in place along the major roads, the poles that carry the transmission lines and create a messy skyline will be no longer be there. It will also put an end to power theft as the wires will go underground.''

As experienced during the 1999 supercyclone, the transmission lines and the poles become vulnerable in the event of natural calamities.

'Once the underground cable network for power supply is ready then there will be less threat from natural calamities,'' Pradhan said.

The Scrips project was adopted by the state government to prepare a master plan for development of the power system, load forecast and system upgrade mechanism, detailed transmission and distribution plan and preparation of detailed project reports for different programmes.

All the projects under Scrips will be funded by the state government.

A senior official of the power utility said: 'The four major roads in the state capital after their inclusion in the underground cabling work will have 7.31km of 33KV, 195km of 11KV and 95km of low transmission cables spread underneath. The details of the cable types to be used for Cuttack will be known once the detailed project report is finalised.''

Smita Dash, a resident of Bhubaneswar, said: 'Underground cable work is already nearing completion in Puri for an hassle-free car festival after the Nabakalebar festival. I am happy that being a planned city, the historic Ekamrakshetra is going to have an underground cable network.''

Tuna Das, a Cuttack resident, said: 'The historic city faces a tough time during Durga Puja when the idols are taken out in a procession. Once the underground cabling is done across the major roads,there will be less problem.''

Already the state government has started underground cabling work in Puri to make the Nabakalebar festival smooth and a similar work was also taken up near Konark.