36 railway projects under different stages of work in Odisha

At least 36 railway projects, falling fully or partly in Odisha, are under different stages of planning, approval or execution, the East Coast Railways said. When completed, the projects costing Rs 49,984 crore will cover a length of 4,567 km. Works including 10 new line projects covering a length of 1,269 km will be constructed at a cost of Rs 16,598 crore, of which 80 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 4,260 crore incurred up to March 2019, the ECoR said.

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For a gauge conversion project covering a length of 140 km an estimated Rs 1,349 crore will be spent, of which 90 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 191 crore incurred, the ECoR said. Similarly, 25 doubling projects covering a length of 3,159 km will be constructed at a cost of Rs 32,037 crore, of which 494 km length has been commissioned.

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The timely completion of any railway project depends on various factors, such as quick land acquisition by the state government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of the area, the ECoR said.

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For smooth execution of work, a lot of monitoring is done at various levels and regular meetings are held with the officials of the state government and authorities concerned to resolve the issues that are obstructing the progress of projects, the ECoR said.