Bhubaneswar: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has received an overwhelming response from construction firms for the development of 111-km six-lane greenfield Capital Region Ring Road (CRRR) project for Bhubaneswar.
The enthusiastic response from bidders shows a robust industry confidence in one of the state’s largest infrastructure initiatives, known as Bhubaneswar bypass.
Officials said the NHAI had invited bids for the project in three packages under the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM). All three packages attracted strong participation. While Package-I received 23 bids, Package-II attracted 25 bids, and Package-III drew interest from 16 bidders.
The NHAI expects to finalise and award the contracts by March 2026, with construction scheduled to begin shortly thereafter and be completed within 2.5 years.
It may be noted that the Union Cabinet had approved the Rs 8,307.74 crore project to connect Rameshwar to Tangi, creating an access-controlled bypass around Bhubaneswar. Around 96% of the required land has already been acquired, and forest, wildlife, and environmental clearances are in place, paving the way for swift execution.
The ring road is designed to ease chronic congestion in the urban centres of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Khurda by diverting traffic away from city roads. The new corridor is expected to improve regional connectivity, reduce logistics costs, create substantial employment opportunities during construction and operation, and drive long-term economic growth in the capital region. It will also provide safer and faster travel options for commuters and freight movement.
The overwhelming bidder response underscores the growing attractiveness of Odisha’s infrastructure pipeline and the continued interest of private players in highway projects.
The project alignment integrates with 3 major National Highways (NH-55, NH-57 and NH-655) and one State Highway (SH-65), providing seamless connectivity to key economic, social, and logistics nodes across Odisha.
Additionally, the upgraded corridor will enhance multi-modal integration by connecting with 10 Economic Nodes, 4 Social Nodes and 05 Logistic Nodes, providing enhanced multimodality with 1 Major Railway Station, 1 Airport, 1 proposed Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP), and 2 major Ports thereby facilitating faster movement of goods and passengers across the region.
Upon completion, the bypass will play a pivotal role in regional economic growth, strengthening connectivity between major religious and economic centers and opening new avenues for trade and industrial development.
The project will also generate approximately 74.43 lakhs person-days of direct and 93.04 lakh person-days of indirect employment, and will open new avenues of growth, development and prosperity in surrounding regions.
