Bhubaneswar: The state cabinet today gave approval to the proposal to build a ring road to boost development in Berhampur, Chhatrapur and Gopalpur town and to ease out traffic in the Southern Odisha business town of Berhampur.

The cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave nod to the proposal where the lowest EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) tender amounting to Rs 156 crore was submitted by Ashirbad Engineering and Constructions Pvt Ltv in partnership with M/S RK Infracorp Pvt Ltd.

The project is slated to be completed in 24 months.

The foundation stone for the 45-km ring road was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2013. However, it was hit by land acquisition woes leading to dealy in completion of the project.

In the first phase, 5.19 km of the ring road covering Mohuda, Kumarpur, Kusumi, Govindapur, Monohara and Madanmohanpur villages under Kukudakhandi tehsil via NH-16 will be taken up. The project will include 13.7 km Raghunathpur-Ratanapur bypass road planned by the NHAI, 15.4 km stretch of Dakhinapur-Lathi-Haladiapadar and 17-km stretch connecting Mandiapalli-Karapalli and Phulta to be taken up by the Works department.