Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Reviews Key Expressway Projects in Bihar, Aims for Enhanced Connectivity

Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar conducted a high-level review at 'Sankalp' located at 1 Anne Marg regarding the connectivity of Bodh Gaya / Rajgir with four expressways / highways proposed and under construction in Bihar state, namely Gorakhpur-Siliguri, Raxaul-Haldia, Patna-Purnia Greenfield and Amas-Darbhanga path.

During the review, the Chief Secretary informed the Chief Minister through a presentation that Rs 84 thousand 734 crore will be spent on the construction of 1,575 km expressway path under these four major projects. In this, the length of the paths in Bihar will be 1,063 km and Rs 59 thousand 173 crore will be spent on it.

It is noteworthy that in accordance with the far-sighted thinking of the Chief Minister, today a network of paths has been developed to reach the capital Patna in 05 hours from any corner of the state. Now an action plan has been proposed to reach Patna in 04 hours from any corner of the state in the next 05 years. Under this, further action is being taken for the construction of new expressway/highway in the state.

The Gorakhpur-Siliguri Expressway will pass through eight districts of Bihar state, namely West Champaran, East Champaran, Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Supaul, Araria and Kishanganj, whose total length will be 600 km. This will include a 415 km long stretch in Bihar state. For this, land acquisition has to be done in 100 m width. Raxaul-Haldia Expressway This project is being constructed with a view to providing quick connectivity from the international check post located at Raxaul to the nearest port, Haldia.

Its total length is 702 km, in which 367 km will fall in Bihar state. It will pass through East Champaran, Shivhar, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Jamui and Banka districts in the state of Bihar. For this, land acquisition has to be done in a width of 100 m. Starting from the proposed Dighwara Bridge in Patna-Purnia Greenfield Expressway, Patna Ring Road, this path will be built till Purnia, whose total length will be 250 km. This path will pass through Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Darbhanga, Saharsa, Madhepura and Purnia districts. For this, land acquisition has to be done in a width of 100 m. A 4 lane spur is to be constructed for connectivity of Bodh Gaya / Rajgir from Amas-Darbhanga Expressway. For this, land acquisition has to be done in a width of 45 m.

During the review, the Chief Minister said that the construction of these expressways will give further impetus to traffic in the state. People will save a lot of time in travelling from one place to another. After coming to power in 2005, roads and bridges were constructed to improve traffic. A network of roads has been developed to reach the capital Patna from any corner of the state in 5 hours.

He said that the land acquisition work for these proposed expressways should be ensured in a timely manner and people should not face any inconvenience in this work. On this occasion, Water Resources Minister Mr. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, MP Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jha, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Mr. Deepak Kumar, Chief Secretary Mr. Amrit Lal Meena, Additional Chief Secretary of Road Construction Department Mr. Pratyaya Amrit, Secretary to the Chief Minister Mr. Anupam Kumar, Secretary to the Chief Minister Mr. Kumar Ravi, Secretary of Road Construction Department Mr. Sanjeev Pudukalkatti, Special Officer to the Chief Minister Mr. Gopal Singh, Chairman of Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation Mr. Shirshat Kapil Ashok and senior officials of NHAI were present.