Delay in construction of busy road irks Berhampur residents

BERHAMPUR: Residents of Berhampur have expressed concern over inordinate delay in construction of the road from sub-registrar’s office to Mango Market. Since 2013, several tenders have been floated for construction of the 2.6 km stretch of the road and funds were also allocated for the purpose.

However, construction of the project has not yet started. The locals had staged protests and submitted memoranduma to officials concerned over the issue. The stretch is one of the busiest in the city and several educational institutions are located along it. This apart, the road shortens the route for people entering the city from the city. 

Since the construction of the road and a drain beside it has been left halfway, mishaps and traffic congestion are common on the stretch. While the dug up portion of the road has been barricaded, the drain next to it remains uncovered. The barricaded portion of  the road are filled with shrubs and covered with trees. The filth in the barricades has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. 

After cyclone Phailin in 2013, the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) had decided to construct the road and prepared a detailed project report of around Rs 12 crore. But work on the project was stopped midway. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation for road in 2017 under World Bank-funded Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP).

The work, however remained incomplete and in 2020 the World Bank withdrew from the project due to the delay in its execution. Again in 2020, the state government entrusted the construction of the road to the Public Works department.  In May, 2022, tender for the project at a cost of `26 crore was floated. However, it could not be finalised. The BeMC has been shifting  the blame for delay in executing the project to the Public Works department. 

Public Works department superintending engineer Banim Panda said the tender for the work has already been finalised and it will start within a week and be completed by July this year.