Bhubaneswar, Nov 12 (IANS): L&T IDPL, the infrastructure arm of the Larsen & Toubro Group, has been awarded a contract by the Odisha government for developing a road project estimated at the total cost of Rs.1,293 crore, the company said Tuesday.

The road project issued by the state's public works department will be executed under the Public-Private-Partnership model. Larsen & Toubro Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd. (L&T IDPL) had bid for a grant of Rs.465.30 crore, for four-laning the Sambalpur-Rourkela section of the state highway.

The stretch extends for 161.73 km and has been offered for a concession period of 22 years, including the construction period of three years. This will be the L&T IDPL's first road project in Odisha to be built on a build-operate-transfer basis, the company said.

The concession agreement for the project was signed between the L&T and the Sambalpur-Rourkela Tollways Ltd., a special purpose vehicle formed for the project by the L&T IDPL, and the Odisha government.

Currently, the road has two lanes to be widened to four lanes along with other facilities such as fly-overs, underpasses, bridges, bus-bays, rest areas and service roads.

The project shall have state-of-art facilities such as the advanced highway traffic management systems, highway patrolling service and accident vehicle recovery service.

The concessionaire shall be entitled to collect appropriate tolls, after completion of construction, based on a pre-determined toll policy issued by the state government.

Major companies located in the vicinity of the road are Rourkela Steel Plant, L&T Kansbahal Works, UltraTech Cement, Vedanta Aluminum, Bhushan Power and Steel and large areas of coal mines of Coal India Limited.