Taladanda canal that passes through Cuttack. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Paradip, April 4: Taladanda canal is set to facilitate road network to Paradip, as the port town and its adjoining areas gear up to tackle the burgeoning traffic congestion once the ambitious Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) gets underway.

As Paradip and its adjoining areas are emerging as industrial hubs and being perceived as a major investment region, emphasis is being laid on excellent road connectivity.

Official sources said the state government is thinking of creating this road route through the embankment of Taladanda canal to refurbish the road link with the proposed investment region.

The petrochemical project has already received the central government’s approval. It would be spread across 284.15km along Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts.

As per the Memorandum of Agreement signed with the Union government to set up the project, which is expected to attract investments of about Rs 2.74 lakh crore, the state government is shouldering the responsibility of facilitating road network to the port town.

The existing road connectivity to Paradip is inadequate to bear the enormous vehicular traffic load from the PCPIR. At present, the National Highway 5 (A) besides the State Highway (SH) - 12 connects Paradip with the rest of the state.

Two major road connectivity projects — the Bhubaneswar-Paradip Greenfield Corridor and Coastal Corridor (Astarang-Paradeep-Dhamra) — remain on the government’s agenda to invigorate the road link to Paradip. While the twin projects are in the pipeline, the existing state highway is now being expanded to four-lanes.

At a high-level meeting held recently to explore the road expansion plan, discussions were held on the viability of the Taladanda canal embankment for laying a two-lane concrete road, as widening of the SH-12 to a six-lane road corridor might not be possible because of land acquisition issues.

A two-lane road over the canal embankment is feasible as the century-old canal traverses close to the state highway. Besides, it would strengthen the canal embankment. The project would be free from land acquisition hurdles.

A team of experts will soon conduct a survey to find out the feasibility of the project.

“As part of external infrastructure support to PCPIR, government agencies have undertaken steps to improve the road connectivity to Paradip. The road route over the canal embankment forms a part of the project,” said Surajit Das, additional district magistrate, Paradip.

The petrochemical project would be completed in two phases under joint funding of the Centre, state and public-private-partnership. The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation will don the mantle of the nodal agency, while the Indian Oil Corporation Limited will be the anchor tenant for development of the project.

The Union government had asked the state to create a detailed project report so that finances could be allocated to get the external infrastructure and logistic support ready before PCPIR project work resumes.