Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has formed a high-level committee to examine the viability of Bhubaneswar metro rail project, Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra informed on Friday.
“The committee will study metro rail projects in other states and also examine the proposed route map of the metro rail project here,” he said.
The Minister further stated that the government will take a decision on any modification to ensure an optimized metro network that meets the city’s growing transportation needs on the basis of this report.
This came amid reports that the ground work for phase-I construction of the metro rail project in the state capital has been temporarily suspended, with plans underway to modify the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to accommodate a flyover on the elevated corridor along Jayadev Vihar-Nandankanan stretch.
An official from the city coordination committee of the mass rapid transit system (MRTS) said that they have been instructed not to begin the pillar work on this stretch because of the proposed flyover and the government may come up with a fresh DPR.
The foundation stone of the phase-I metro project, which included 26-km-long stretch between Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar to Trisulia in Cuttack, was laid at Ratagada Lenka Sahi near Trisulia on January 1 last year. The entire metro line will be on an elevated corridor.
The estimated cost of the Bhubaneswar metro project is Rs 6,225 crore and around Rs 304 crore has been allocated for this year. Rs 250 crore was released for the project in October 2024.
Sources said that Bhubaneswar Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has already started preliminary work on the elevated corridor. The work of the metro depot and casting at Phulapokhari, on the outskirts of the city, is also underway.
IIT Madras has also been roped in for a pilot study of traffic for the flyover project, sources added.
