Tejashwi meets Gadkari, Bihar hopes to get its first expressway

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will carry out a feasibility test for building the first expressway in Bihar, from Buxar to Bhagalpur, a top officer familiar with the matter said.

An in-principle agreement for this was arrived at in a meeting between Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in New Delhi on Thursday.

The senior officer, who was part of the state delegation that met the Union minister, said the expressway would be a green field project, in addition to other proposed four-lane expressways like Gorakhpur-Siliguri, Raxaul-Haldia via Patna and Amas-Darbhanga access-controlled highways.

The expressway will be designed for allowing vehicles to run at the speed of 120kmph while the access-controlled highways have the permissible speed limit of the vehicles up to 100 kmph.

Gadkari told the Bihar delegation, led by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who also holds the road construction portfolio, that the NHAI would soon float the tender to engage reputed and competent construction firm to build the six-lane bridge on the river Ganga, parallel to the JP Setu in Patna, at a cost of ₹3,000 crore.

The Union minister said that since it was a mega project, entailing an expenditure of more than ₹2,000 crore, it required the approval of the Prime Minister’s office (PMO). “The PMO has cleared the project and it will be processed for the Union cabinet nod,” said Gadkari.

Besides, the MoRTH minister assured that the long-delayed Patna-Gaya-Dobhi four-lane road (NH-83) project would be complete by the year-end for vehicular operations.

The Union minister was also urged to complete ongoing road project on Chapra-Hajipur stretch of NH-19, Muzaffapur bypass, which is part of Hajipur-Muzaffarpur NH-77, Maheshkhut-Saharsa-Purnia (NH-107) and Birpur-Udakishanganj-Bihpur (NH106).

The RCD official said that the Buxar-Bhagalpur expressway, if approved by the MoRTH, would be connected to 343-km-long Purvanchal Expressway, originating from Chand Sarai in Lucknow to Haidaria in Ghazipur in UP.

On the request of Bihar’s deputy CM, Gadkari said work on Danapur-Bihta elevated road would commence soon as the tender for the project would be finalised by the month-end.

Additional chief secretary (RCD) Pratyay Amrit, Kundan Kumar, resident commissioner at Bihar Bhawan in New Delhi were also part of the Bihar delegation.

The meeting lasted more than an hour.

Talking to media persons after the meeting, Tejashwi Yadav said Gadkari was the man in Union cabinet who interacts in a very positive manner. “We have demanded an expressway in Bihar, which the state lacks as of now. We have also requested the MoRTH minister to step up work on various pending road projects,” said Yadav.

The deputy CM was offered a ride on hydrogen-powered car of Gadkari from the meeting venue to Bihar Bhawan.