Bihar set for e-ways, ring roads: Minister

Bihar would have four expressways crisscrossing the state under the Bharatmala Project (Phase-2) and ring roads around important towns to decongest traffic, road construction minister Nitin Navin announced in state Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Bihar would have four expressways crisscrossing the state under the Bharatmala Project (Phase-2) and ring roads around important towns to decongest traffic, road construction minister Nitin Navin announced in state Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Bihar road construction minister Nitin Navin (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

He was giving the government reply after debate, which took place after a long gap, on the budgetary demand of road construction department, which was passed with voice vote. The budgetary demands of three other departments — panchayati raj; art, culture and youth and SC/ST welfare — were also passed amid Opposition walkout at the fag end. The Opposition leaders moved cut motions and used the opportunity to criticise the government policies and corruption in programmes, but it fell.

Navin said that under the Bharatmala Project (Phase-2), ₹29,000-crore six-lane Gorakhpur-Siliguri greenfield expressway, which will have 416-km stretch in Bihar, ₹19,000-crore Varanasi-Kolkata greenfield expressway passing through Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad and Gaya, ₹20,000-crore Raxaul-Haldia greenfield project via Raxaul, East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Hajipur and Banka and the Patna-Ara-Sasaram greenfield expressway which will be connected to Ara ring road with a 12-km connecting road at an estimated cost of ₹381-crore would give a major boost to the state.

He said under the Bharatmala Project- (Phase-1), 23 projects have been selected involving 1017-km road at an estimated cost of ₹23,240 crore and contractor has been selected for five, while tender process is underway for three.

Navin said the state had witnessed transformation in road connectivity under the NDA government with a strong network of roads and bridges, including in the Maoist-affected regions and along the long Indo-Nepal border. “The Indo-Nepal border roads stretche for 729 kms, starting from Madanpur in West Champaran and passing through several districts. While 167-km stretch is part of NH-104, construction and land acquisition is on for another 552-km stretch. Efforts are on to complete the project by December 2023. The work on 178-km stretch has been completed,” he said.

On Opposition criticism to poor maintenance of roads, Navin said that under output and performance-based road assets maintenance contract (OPRMC), which was started in 2013, over 13000 kms of roads are under long-term maintenance and not many complaints have been received from the members. “Now the government also plans to link it with the command and control room for realtime report on the status of roads as well as availability of road ambulances. Mere criticism is not good. If there are specific problems, do bring it to the government notice so that prompt action could be taken,” he said.

The minister said that under the government’s 7-resolves (2020-25), several ring roads and elevated roads have been planned at an estimated cost of ₹143.12 crore. This includes ring roads for densely populated towns like Darbhanga, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur and bypasses for other towns.