The Odisha government, led by Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik, has given its consent to an Rs 8,000-crore coastal highway project that would connect Odisha's Tangi with West Bengal's Digha.

The coastal highway project is proposed under the Centre's Bharatmala Pariyojana, and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will execute the project.

382 km long highway will pass through Tangi (NH-16), Brahmagiri, Puri, Konark, Astarang, Naugaon, Paradip Port, Ratanpur, Satabhaya, Dhamra, Basudevpur, Talapada, Chandipur, Chandaneswar and Digha.

The state government has given consent to the project after six years of its announcement by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in 2015, reports Odisha TV.

"The State government has given consent for the coastal highway after much deliberation. We will go for different regulatory approvals required for the project as the proposed road will pass in the vicinity of various forests and Bay of Bengal and over rivers," Ram Prasad Panda, Chief General Manager of NHAI, Bhubaneswar, told The Hindu.

"Due care has been taken to evade the forest and sanctuary areas in the plan. The coastal highway will prove a key infrastructure milestone for transportation of port-related goods, boosting tourism and handling disasters in the future," he said.