Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has written to his cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari, urging him to take steps to expand an economic corridor connecting two national highways between Chhattishgarh’s Raigarh and Odisha’s Talcher to eight lanes to facilitate industrialisation in the region. In a letter to Gadkari, the Union road transport and highways minister, Pradhan said the corridor of approximately 300 km, starting from Raigarh in Chhattisgarh and extending up to Ballhar at Talcher, has the presence of three major industrial areas, and the expansion of the arterial roads is needed as economic activities are set to grow there.
The Ib Valley area for thermal power, sponge iron, refractories, and coal mines, Hirakud for aluminium and rolling mills and Talcher-Angul for power plants, coal washeries and ferroalloys are the main industrial zones in the region.
The rapid industrialisation in recent times and growing economic activities in these areas have made it not only the industrial backbone of Odisha but also the nation, he said.
The economic corridor is connected by NH-49 linking Kanaktora (Old-Chhattisgarh border) with Jharsuguda-Tileibani in Odisha and by NH-53 covering Deogarh-Reamal-Godibandha-Ballahar, and these highways have expanded and upgraded in the last eight years, he said.
At present, different packages of various developmental works are in progress to expand NH-49 into a four-lane highway and NH-53 as well, and the volume of traffic, freight, and industrial transport through this stretch is set to grow exponentially in the coming years, Pradhan, union education minister who hails from Odisha, said in the letter. “In view of the potential of the stretch covering the Ib Valley, Hirakud area, and Angul-Talcher region, I take this opportunity to request you to consider upgrading this stretch to an economic corridor of eight lanes which will go a long way in ensuring improved infrastructure for the present and upcoming industries in these areas as well as boosting the economy of the state and the nation as a whole,” Pradhan added.
