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On the occasion of Utkal Diwas, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced a metro train project connecting Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Khurda.

The project has been studied by various stakeholders and feasibility reports have been prepared. It will be predominantly based on elevated corridors and will be entirely funded by the state government, he said.

In the first phase, the government will create the metro trunk route from Trisulia near Cuttack to Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar. The route will tentatively touch major landmarks such as Nandankanan, Patia, Vani Vihar, railway ztation and so on, Patnaik said.

As the project is starting from near Subash Bose Setu, it will enable the commuters from Cuttack to access important locations in Bhubaneswar. In later phases, the metro will expand to Khurda and Puri, he said.

The Chief Minister has asked the Housing and Urban Development department to complete the detailed project report (DPR) on a war footing.

"We have always strived to push boundaries and improve the lives of our people. And today, with the announcement of this new project, we are taking another step towards a 'New Odisha' to provide best in class metro services to the people of the state," Patnaik said.

Equipped with state-of-art facilities, the metro rail project will not only offer world-class, environment friendly urban transport for an emerging and aspirational Odisha but also spur economic activities and accelerate expansion of our urban city cluster covering Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri and Khurda, he pointed out.

The Chief Minister further said the emergence of a modern and planned city cluster will attract people, investments, trade, and tourism like never before. This will be a truly transformational project implemented using the principles of 5Ts (teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation and time-limit).

"This is the New Odisha we are aspiring to create as our humble tribute to the people and the creators of our beloved state of Odisha," he added.

Stating that Odisha people have also excelled in multiple fields and made their mark across the world, Patnaik said, "Odisha, synonymous with a rich cultural heritage, is today also known for good governance, people centric administration, inclusivity, disaster management women's empowerment, sporting excellence, world class skilling programmes, high socioeconomic indicators, great infrastructure, and so on, Odisha is on cusp of deep transformative change."

"The state's journey forward is guided by the great leaders who aspired and gave us the 1st linguistic state in 1936," he said.

"With the blessings of visionary forefathers like Biju Patnaik, we need to dream big and work hard to become one of the most progressive States of the country," he added.