Bihar's Rs 1.25 Lakh Crore Development Package Nears Completion with 44 Road Projects Finished
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar in the 2015 election rally. After this, some additional packages were also announced in the intervening years. Due to the efforts of the double engine government of the state, most of the announcements of these packages have almost been completed. Bihar has got a new speed in road, rail and air transport.
The biggest part of the package was related to the Road Transport Ministry, under which 74 projects were announced to lay a network of 2 thousand 836 km long roads. Its cost amount is Rs 51 thousand 540 crore. Work on 44 road projects has been completed in this. Due to this, 1 thousand 304 km of new roads were built in the state and Rs 14 thousand 898 crore was spent on it.
Some big road projects are also included in this. For example, reconstruction and rehabilitation work of Mahatma Gandhi Setu by spending Rs 1742 crore under NH-19, construction of Patna-Gaya-Dobhi by spending Rs 1680 crore under HH-83, Simaria-Khagaria 4 lane road on NH-31 by spending Rs 1063 crore, Rs 750 crore on Kailwar-Bhojpur 4 lane, four lane Bhojpur-Buxar NH-84 by spending Rs 595 crore.
Work on 22 road projects in progress
Under the road transport package, there are 22 such road projects, whose construction work is going on under the supervision of the Union Road Transport Ministry. Rs 25,933 crore is being spent on the construction of these 1 thousand 57 km long roads. Out of these, work on 11 projects will be completed by the end of the current financial year. Similarly, work on all 22 road projects will be completed by the financial year 2027-28. Apart from this, there are five such projects which are going to start soon. The cost of this 271 km long project is Rs 5,797 crore. There are two such projects which are at the approval stage. Soon after getting their approval, the work will start. Among these road projects, Sonbarsa and Raxaul road project has been postponed. The reason for this is that this area is included in the border road project being built on the India-Nepal border at the level of the Ministry of Defense.
The 22 projects whose work is going on include a 4-lane bridge parallel to Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Patna-Koilwar 4-lane road, Umgaon-Saharsa road as well as bridge on Kosi, Munger-Mirzachowki 4-lane road, Vikramshila Setu being built on the Ganges river, and other schemes.
5 Railway projects completed
The second major part of the Bihar package is 9 railway related projects, of which work on 5 has been completed and work on 4 is going to be completed soon. So far, 652 km rail line has been constructed or doubled by spending Rs 4,841 crore. Whereas, work is in progress on four projects of 466 km, which is costing Rs 7,736 crore. The major rail projects which are likely to be completed by the end of this year include doubling of Kiul-Gaya line, doubling between Samastipur-Darbhanga, third line between Dhanbad-Sonnagar and doubling of Rampur Dumra Tal line and construction of Rajendra bridge.
Construction of 5 airports including Patna
Apart from the capital Patna, approval has been given to construct airports in 5 cities with the aim of providing better connectivity by connecting other cities by air route. Apart from Patna, this includes construction of airports in Bihta, Gaya, Raxaul and Purnia. The work of renovation of Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport in Patna has been done by spending Rs 1,216 crore. From its new building to terminal, everything has been constructed. Similarly, Gayaji Airport has also been developed by spending Rs 68 crore 72 lakh. Whereas, construction work is going to start in Bihta and Purnia. Recently, the Prime Minister has started the construction work of Bihta Airport along with the inauguration of the new terminal of Patna Airport. The construction work of Purnia Airport is likely to start soon. Land survey work is going on in Raxaul. After this, construction work will start here too.
