Ganga Pathway up to Gaighat set to open for traffic

The four-lane JP Ganga Path, popularly called Patna’s marine drive, being built on northern bank of river Ganga in Bihar’s capital, will be opened for traffic up to Gaighat soon, an official familiar with the matter said.

Currently, vehicular traffic is allowed up to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) from Digha, as construction of the entire 20.5-km-long stretch is still going on.

A senior official of Bihar State Road Development Construction (BSRDC), which is executing the project at a total cost of ₹3,831 crore, said the superstructure work of the elevated portion up to Gaighat is complete and finishing touches are being given to throw it open for public. “The 5-km stretch of the elevated bridge, from PMCH to Gaighat, could be formally inaugurated on August 15,” said a senior engineer deputed for the project, who did not want to be named.

Opening of traffic up to Gaighat stretch from Digha would help people avoid heavily congested Ashok Rajpath to reach Patna City.

Construction of a double decker flyover and underground metro network has already made Ashok Rajpath stretch from Gandhi Maidan to NIT a nightmare for vehicle owners.

The official quoted above said work to build approach road to connect Ganga Pathway with Gaighat is also going on. “To begin with, only up ramp would be available for vehicular movement for both to and fro traffic, as construction of down ramp has been delayed for want availability of around 300 square metres of land of the old judicial academy,” said the official.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had last week visited the construction site and directed the road construction department officials and those of the Patna district administration to expedite the process to acquire stipulated portion of land.

The project is being built in three parts, from Digha to Naujar ghat (0-13.5 km), Naujar ghat to Deedarganj (13.5-17km) and Deedarganj to Patna Ghat (17-20.5km).

The first part is being built by Navayuga Engineering Construction Limited, while the second and third stretches are being built by GK Infra and SP Singla, respectively

“The cost of construction has escalated from earlier estimate of ₹3,160 crore to the current ₹3,831 crore due to change in construction nature, which was recommended by IIT-Roorkee experts. On expert advice, Naujarghat to Deedarganj portion is being built on elevated structure instead of earlier plan of building it on at grade level,” said the engineer, adding that Ganga Pathway will have connectivity with another road from Patna City to Deedarganj.