Deck cleared for Patna’s own ‘Marine Drive’

After initial hiccups over funding of 21.5 km Ganga Expressway in Patna, it now seems that the proposed project will see the light of day. Navayuga Engineering, a Visakhapatanam-based firm has finally bagged the contract to construct the Bihar government’s dream project of expressway along the bank of river Ganges.

The estimated cost of this 21.5 km Expressway will be around Rs.2,234.46 crore, according to a news agency which cited official of the Bihar government as the source of this information. Work on the project will start in October this year and will be thrown open to traffic in 2017.

To be built on the line of Mumbai’s Marine Drive, the proposed expressway will stretch from Deedarganj in Patna City on the eastern flank of the city to Digha Ghat in the west.

Last year, the state government has decided to construct the expressway with the help of state agencies after the project failed to attract investors on a private-public partnership basis. Meanwhile, HUDCO has agreed to grant a loan of Rs.2,000 crore for the project.

The state government has also cleared the decks for acquisition of over 200 hectares of land for the project; the news agency quoted a state official.

The project will be completed in two phase. The proposed expressway will cover the stretch between Didarganj and Digha in the first phase while the second phase will extend it further east by 18 kilometers up to Fatuha. About seven kilometres of the road will be elevated.

Bihar State Road Construction Corporation has been tasked to execute and monitor the project.