Patna’s Ganga pathway to partially open in March next year

Envisoned by Nitish Kumar during his second stint as the chief minister, the road construction department (RCD) in 2013 laid the foundation stone of the 20.50km four-lane expressway

The 5.50km-long Digha-AN Sinha Institute stretch of the ambitious Ganga Pathway, considered Patna’s version of Mumbai’s famous Marine Drive, will be opened for vehicular traffic by March next year, officials said on Sunday. This is part of ₹3,390 crore signature project coming up on the southern bank of River Ganga to minimise traffic load on the congested Ashok Rajpath.

The 5.50km-long Digha-AN Sinha Institute stretch of the Ganga Pathway in Patna on Sunday. (Santosh Kumar/Ht Photo)

Envisoned by Nitish Kumar during his second stint as the chief minister, the road construction department (RCD) in 2013 laid the foundation stone of the 20.50km four-lane expressway, that connects National Highway-30 and AIIMS-Digha elevated corridor in the west with the upcoming six-lane Kacchi Dargah-Bidupur bridge over River Ganga in Patna City in the east.

The project, however, got delayed inordinately owing to multiple reasons, including procedural wrangle in land acquisition and design modifications. Founded in 2013, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2017. However, as all the issues affecting the project are now tackled with, the RCD is now aiming to complete the project by June 2023.

RCD additional chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena said efforts were on to open the Digha-AN Sinha institute stretch, which connects with Ashok Rajpath through a bridge, by March next year. “Most of the construction on this stretch is being done at grade level, while a short span of it is on elevated structure,” he said, adding that fund issues have also been resolved as the state Cabinet gave its nod for taking ₹2,000 crore as loan from Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco).

The RCD has arranged rest of the project cost from the state government’s resources, Meena said after a Cabinet meeting, which cleared the department’s proposal at its meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday last.

In another important decision to empower youths with industrial skills, the state Cabinet approved the industries department’s proposal for launching vocational training institute of Central Institute of Petrochemicals and Engineering Technology (CIPET), and building premises of Bhagalpur co-operative spinning mill at a cost of around ₹40.10 crore. An assistance grant of ₹10 crore has also been released to start the project in the current fiscal.

The Cabinet also gave its approval for release of around ₹30,000 crore to be spent by urban and rural local bodies towards development work. The allotment of fund will be made by the finance department to Panchayati raj and urban development departments in the light of the sixth state finance commission.

The state government has also decided to frame rules, including qualifications, for appointment of chairman, members and member-secretary of Bihar state pollution control board. Currently, the board is running on an ad-hoc arrangement, as terms of present office-bearers expired last year.

Project highlight

Total length of project: 20.50km

Cost of project: ₹3,390 crore

Foundation laying: 2013

Type of construction: 6.5km at-grade/14km elevated

Stretch to be opened first: 5.50km Digha-AN Sinha institute

Project deadline: June 2023