News Brief

PM To Lay Foundation For Nine Highway Projects For Bihar, Connect All Villages With Fibre Net Services

Arun Kumar Das

Sep 20, 2020, 02:50 PM | Updated 02:50 PM IST


PM Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar
PM Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar
  • Estimated to cost Rs 14,258 crore, the nine highway projects involve a road length of about 350 km.
  • Paving the way for faster development with better connectivity,
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of nine highway projects worth over Rs 14,000 crore in Bihar and also inaugurate Optical Fibre internet services in the state where all the 45,945 villages of Bihar will be connected through Optical Fibre Internet Service on 21 September.

    Estimated to cost Rs 14,258 crore, the nine highway projects involve a road length of about 350 km.

    Ensuring the way for development of Bihar with movement of people and goods, especially with the neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, these roads will enhance connectivity, convenience and economic growth in and around the State.

    Earlier, the Prime Minister had declared a special package for significant infrastructure development of Bihar in the year 2015.

    This included 75 projects worth Rs 54,700 crore, of which 13 projects have been completed, work is under way at 38 and others are in DPR/Bidding/Sanction stage.

    With the completion of these projects, all rivers in Bihar will have bridges conforming to 21st century specifications, and all major NHs will stand widened and strengthened.

    Under the PM’s package, the total number of bridges over the river Ganga are going to be 17, with a lane capacity of 62.

    This way, on an average, there will be a bridge over rivers in the State at every 25 KMs.

    The projects include four-laning of 47.23 km Bakhtiyarpur-Rajauli section of NH-31 at a cost of Rs 1149.55 crore, four-laning of 50.89 km Bakhtiyarpur-Rajauli section of NH-31 at a cost of Rs 2650.76 crore and four-laning of 54.53 km Ara-Mohania section of NH-30 on EPC Mode at a cost of Rs 885.41 crore among others.

    Besides four-laning of 60.80 km Ara-Mohania section of NH-30 on EPC Mode at a cost of Rs 855.93 crore, four-laning of 49 km Narenpur-Purnea Section of NH-131A at a cost of Rs 2288 crore, six-laning of 39 km Patna-Ring Road (Kanhauli-Ramnagar) of NH 131G on EPC Mode at a cost of Rs 913.15 crore, construction of a new 14.5 km four-lane bridge (Parallel to existing MG Setu) with its approaches across river Ganga on NH-19 at Patna at a cost of Rs 2926.42 crore are part of the big road projects being undertaken in the state.

    Construction of a new 28.93 km 4-lane bridge across river Kosi on NH-106 with 2-lane paved shoulder on EPC mode at a cost of Rs 1478.40 crore, and construction of new 4.445 km 4-lane bridge (parallel to existing Vikramashila Setu) across river Ganga on NH-131B at a cost of Rs 1110.23 crore are two other major road projects of the state.

    Optical Fibre internet services

    It is a prestigious project covering all 45,945 villages of Bihar which will enable a digital revolution to reach the farthest corner of the State.

    This project will be executed by combined efforts of the Department of Telecom, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Common Service Centres (CSC).

    CSC has 34,821 centres throughout the length and breadth of Bihar State.

    They will utilise this workforce to not only implement this project but also provide Optical Fibre Internet Services for common citizens at every village of Bihar.

    The project would also entail implementation of 1 wi-fi and 5 free-of-cost connections to government institutions like Primary Schools, Anganwadi Centres, Aasha Workers, Jeevika Didi etc.

    This project will lead digital services like e-Education, e-Agriculture, Tele-Medicine, Tele-law and other social security schemes to be easily available to all citizens of Bihar at the click of the button.

    Arun Kumar Das is a senior journalist covering railways. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com.


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