Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the three-lane 1.5 km long Koilwar bridge over River Sone in Bihar through video conferencing on Thursday. A sum of Rs 2.66 billion has been spent on the bridge. The existing two-lane bridge for both rail and road traffic is 138 years old.
A six-lane bridge is being constructed in its place, of which, a three-lane carriageway has been opened for the public. After completion of the other carriageway, the traffic on National Highway (NH)-922 and NH-30 will ease substantially. The bridge important connectivity between the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari announced that as proposed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Member of Parliament representing Saran constituency in Lok Sabha, Rajeev Pratap Rudy, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has approved a four-lane elevated road from Bharauli to Haidaria for providing connectivity to the Poorvanchal Expressway. The detailed project report (DPR) for this 17 km-long link road will be ready by June next year.
The ministry has also approved the widening of 70-km Mokama- Munger road, for which DPR will be completed by April next. Similarly, work on widening of Muzzaffpur-Barauni road will start soon. The proposal for the construction of the four-lane Khagaria-Purnea road (NH-31) has also been approved and its DPR will be ready by the coming April. The construction of the four-lane of Muzaffarpur- Sitamarhi-Sonewarsha road (NH-77), which is part of Ramjanki Marg, will simplify the travel to Jakanpur Dham (Nepal), and its DPR will be ready May next year.
Gadkari also referred to the proposals sent by Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh for the development of the road network in Bihar. He said keeping in view his suggestions, a new alignment had been prepared for the Sasaram-Aarah-Patna Greenfield project. On the Aarah Ring Road, 90 per cent of work will be covered by the existing three projects, he said.
Thanking Gadkari, Singh also asked for the sanctioning of the Ring Road for Arrah by connecting the Patna-Arrah-Sasaram greenfield project with Patna Arrah-Buxar Road.
Gadkari informed that road works worth Rs 300 billion were underway in Bihar. A sum of Rs 46 billion had been released for compensation against land acquisition. Under the prime minister’s package, involving 24 projects of 1,459 km, work is on over 875 km. Under this, tender for 125 km has been issued and by next March tender will be released for another 459 kms. He informed that under the Central Road Fund (CRF), works worth Rs 20.97 billion had been approved in the last six years in Bihar, against which Rs 12.81 billion were released till now.
Gadkari said that the 7 km four-lane Koshi bridge worth Rs 14.78 billion was likely to be completed by the year 2023. Tender for the 4 km-long Rs 11.10 billion Vikramshila bridge had been issued and the construction was likely to complete in 2024. The work on the Buxar bridge, lying within the 48 km road project, will be completed by the next year. This bridge will provide an alternative route of 250 km which currently takes 6-8 hours for travel.
The tender for 6 km Rs 19 billion Sahibganj bridge connecting Bihar and Jharkhand has been issued, and the construction is scheduled to complete by September 2024. Work on the remaining two-lane bridge over River Ganga in Patna will be completed by next year. A sum of Rs 17.42 crore was being spent on the reconstruction of this 5.5 km bridge. He also announced the construction of a new four-lane, 5 km long bridge over Ganga near the existing bridge in Patna, for which an agreement was signed in October. This will be a unique bridge with a 242 metre span facilitating the movement of large ships under it. He added that the Ramjanaki Marg is being constructed between Ayodhya and Janakpuri (Nepal), of which 240 km was in Bihar.