Bihar: Work on Digha Ghat expressway likely to begin in January

If everything goes according to plan, the Bihar State Road Development Corporation (BSRDC) may start constructing the four-lane expressway from Digha Ghat to R-block in the city from January 2019.

BSRDC, which has taken possession of land for the stretch, has roped in a consultant, TransTech Engineers, to prepare a detailed project report (DPR). DPR includes cost estimation, alignment of the 7-km expressway, etc. To build the road, the authorities have to remove 7-km of railway tracks. The project is expected to decongest Ashok Rajpath, Boring Road and Boring Canal Road.

Principal secretary of road construction department (RCD) Amrit Lal Meena said East Central Railway (ECR) officials had been asked to clear tracks to expedite construction work.

Besides ₹221 crore paid for land currently occupied by Digha Ghat-R Block railway tracks, RCD has shelled out ₹47 lakh to remove tracks. “We would again request ECR officials to expedite the process so that the district authorities could be engaged to clear encroachments,” said Meena.

A senior officer said BSRDC would start raising pillars on both sides of the stretch from September 8, followed by the encroachment removal drive. “While the four-lane expressway, without any traffic lights, would be built on the western end, about seven to eight-metre stretch of the eastern side will be left vacant for Metro,” he said.

“The expressway will have two elevated sections — one at Hartali Chowk over Bailey Road and another at Rajiv Chowk— while two to three underpasses have been proposed. Of the total 7-km stretch, about half a kilometre will be built in elevated shape,” said an RCD officer.

About the project cost, the officer said the exact amount of would be calculated after preparation of DPR. However, it could be around ₹200 crore, of which ₹50 crore is likely to be spent on the elevated structure.

The project is set to be executed under the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) mode, as the Centre also insisted for the same for project costing more than ₹5 crore.

“The expenses on starting the project in this fiscal would be managed from the state plan, as the department does not have any separate budgetary allocation for it in the current fiscal,” Meena explained, adding that the fund would not be any issue as chief minister Nitish Kumar was keeping an eye on the progress.

Meena said the CM had stressed on getting the land transferred from the railway at the earliest as it would help reduce traffic load on the congested Ashok Rajpath, Boring Road and Boring Canal Road.