Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Setu – A New Milestone in the Development Journey of Odisha

Cuttack: On the occasion of Utkal Divas, on 1 April 2018 Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Cuttack-Nuapatna Bridge and felt privileged to dedicate the Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Setu on the Mahanadi at Cuttack. It is a humble tribute to Madhu Babu on the special day.

This 2.5-km-long bridge connecting Nuapatna to Cuttack on River Mahanadi was completed before the scheduled time in just 29 months. It is the second bridge inaugurated on the river Mahanadi after the Trisulia-Cuttack Bridge in this year.

The bridge is built at a cost of Rs. 157.47 crore. The entire cost of the bridge is borne by the state government. This is a three-lane bridge with walkways on both sides and total width of 14.8 m. 

The foundation stone for this bridge was laid in 2015. The target for completion of this bridge was set as November 2018, but the project was finished before time.

The bridge will benefit the people of Cuttack district and significantly boost socio-economic activities on both sides of the river. The bridge will reduce the distance between Cuttack and Dhenkanal by 16 km and Cuttack and Dhabaleswar by 10 km. The holy shrine Dhabaleswar Temple will also get tourism boost as the bridge directly connects it from Cuttack city. 

The Biju Janata Dal-led government in Odisha has always given importance to the infrastructure development of the state. Odisha leads major states in the pace of establishing infrastructure like roads and bridges. In the last 17 years, the Patnaik government has successfully built 318 major bridges, out of which 107 are built only in the past three years.