Land acquisition for the ambitious coastal highway project will start soon as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has initiated the required formalities with the for the exercise.
Official sources in the NHAI said it has written to the district collectors of Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada to form a competent authority for land acquisition (CALA) for the major Infrastructure project.
Though the Rs 7,500-crore coastal highway was initially proposed to connect Gopalpur in Ganjam to Digha in West Bengal, the alignment (proposed path) has now been changed in view of environmental concerns. The project, proposed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana of the Union Government, will now start from NH-16 near Tangi in Khurda district and developed in two stretches – Tangi-Ratanpur and Ratanpur-Digha.