Odisha’s Govt’s Ambitious Metro Rail Project Derailed

Odisha’s ambitious metro rail project — Bhubaneswar Metro Rail — has failed to take off. The project launched on January 1,2024 with much fanfare by the then BJD chief minister Naveen Patnaik is still at the drawing board stage. The latest news is that the BJP-run Odisha government has officially scrapped the previous tender and contract awarded to Ceigall India and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the design and construction of Bhubaneswar Metro project due to protracted delays and coordination setbacks. This move throws the project’s immediate future into uncertainty, even as the Odisha government asserts its commitment to revive the ambitious urban transport initiative with a revised blueprint. Ceigall India has indicated plans to pursue compensation legally for the contract termination. It is learnt that the Odisha government has now questioned the viability of the then BJD government’s fully state-funded project stating that currently no official proposal had been sent to by the state to the Centre. A Detailed Project Report submitted by the BJD government indicated the metro project would be financed internally. Political analysts are asking why Mohan Charan Majhi government did not pursue the financing issue with the Centre since it had one year’s time. State’s housing & urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra clarified that his government will submit a revised plan to the Centre with a request for central assistance.