Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for nine national highway projects worth Rs 14,000 crore in the state of Bihar. He also launched a project to provide internet services through optical fibre in the state.
The highway projects would improve connectivity in the state. They include construction of three large bridges, upgrading of highways into four lanes and six lanes.
Under the optical fibre project six lakh villages will be provided internet services through optical fibre cable in 1,000 days. This includes 45,945 villages in Bihar.
It will provide access to reading material to students, along with access to tele-medicine and information on seeds, new techniques nationwide markets to farmers apart from real time data on weather conditions.
There are five projects underway to connect East and West Bihar with four lanes and six projects underway to connect North India with South India.
Under the PM’s package, a total of 17 bridges over river Ganga are being constructed. This way, on an average, there will be a bridge over rivers in the state at every 25 km.
The projects include four-laning of 47.23 km Bakhtiyarpur-Rajauli section of NH-31 at a cost of Rs 1,149.55 crore; four-laning of 50.89 km Bakhtiyarpur-Rajauli section of NH-31 worth Rs 2,650.76 crore; four-laning of 54.53 km Ara-Mohania section of NH-30 on EPC mode at a cost of Rs 885.41 crore; and four-laning of 60.80 km Ara-Mohania section of NH-30 on EPC mode worth Rs 855.93 crore.
It also includes four-laning of 49 km Narenpur-Purnea section of NH-131A on HAM mode at a cost of Rs 2,288 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 the existing MG Setu) with its approaches across river Ganga on NH-19 at Patna worth Rs 2926.42 crore.
The projects also include construction of a new 28.93 km four-lane bridge across river Kosi on NH-106 with two-lane paved shoulder on EPC mode at a cost of Rs 1,478.40 crore; and construction of a new 4.445 km four-lane bridge (parallel to the existing Vikramashila Setu) across river Ganga on NH-131B at a cost of Rs 1,110.23 crore.