Bhubaneswar, Jan. 17: A drive to the airport is set to become faster and smoother once the construction of a new 330-metre long eight-lane road connecting Ekamra Marg and Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhimpur “mouza” area is complete.

At present, motorists heading towards the airport take the route that cuts through Forest Park Square passing close to Naveen Nivas.

The present distance between Capital Hospital and the Biju Patnaik Airport (see map) would be reduced substantially once the construction of a new road through the Bhimpur “mouza” is complete. The project is coming up at a cost of Rs 2.55 crore.

The new road would also reduce the distance between Capital Hospital Square and the airport from the present 1.5 km to just 330 metres.

Sources said the project was originally planned in 1995 to provide a straight approach road for the airport.

It was then supposed to go up to Nandankanan zoological park. The land acquisition process was to start immediately but it could be carried out properly. Hence, the project remained stalled all these years.

“According to the decision, the road from the airport had to go up to Nandankanan and would have linked major information technology hubs, tourism projects, technical institutions and other infrastructure and housing projects with the airport. However, due to a delay in land acquisition, the road project could not move ahead,” said a senior government official.

“When the first effort at land acquisition for the project was made in 2002, it was found that many people, after taking the compensation amount, had sold their lands or houses to others, thus causing legal problems,” said an official adding that the work on the project began on January 5 this year after encroachment at certain places on this stretch was removed. Sources said 61 metres of the road have already been laid.

Another reason for the delay has been the need for Forest Department’s permission to cut down big trees on the stretch, said an engineer of the roads and buildings division.

“We are still facing hurdles as eight compensation-related cases are still pending in the high court. We will construct the road up to the airport boundary,” said Ranjit Sahu, executive engineer, roads and building division II of Public Works Department (PWD).

“It will be an eight-lane road with drains on both sides. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation will make lighting arrangement on the road,” Sahu added.

“Earlier, our deadline for completing the project was August 28, 2010, but it had to be pushed further due to the pending legal cases. Once the legal hassles are over, we can complete the project in less than two months,” the senior PWD official added.

He said the road would make communication better by significantly reducing the distance to the airport. VIP movement to and from the airport would become particularly smooth.

Debasish Mohapatra, a travel agency representative, said the new road would certainly bring about significant changes and help tourism as well.

He said tourists always want easy access to airports with less cluttered roads.