All single-lane roads to be widened in state: Minister

Patna: The state govt is planning to upgrade all single-lane roads in Bihar, from cities to villages, into two-lane roads. Replying to the road construction department (RCD) budget in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday, minister Dilip Jaiswal also announced the construction of a high-speed corridor from Pashupatinath in Nepal to Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar, Jharkhand.The project will include a four-lane highway spanning around 250km in Bihar. In addition, the Narayani Ganga Greenfield Highway will be constructed from West Champaran to Bhojpur district to improve connectivity between north and south Bihar, he said.Jaiswal said the four-lane highway connecting Pashupatinath Temple to Baba Baidyanath Dham would start from Valmiki Nagar and pass through Khagaria, Saharsa, Sultanganj and Banka.

The Narayani Ganga High-Speed Greenfield Corridor will begin at NH 727 in Bagaha. “The aim is to connect the people of the Narayani river basin to the population of the Ganga river basin. People in Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj districts will also benefit from this service,” he said.He said all single-lane roads in the state would be upgraded to two lanes in a phased manner, covering state highways, major district roads and rural roads.

Referring to the Pragati Yatra undertaken by CM Nitish Kumar last year, Jaiswal said 137 projects costing Rs23,975 crore were approved. “Work on 111 of these projects has been awarded and is in progress. The remaining projects will be allocated by March,” he said. Another 129 projects worth Rs14,758 crore approved in the past year are also at various stages of implementation.Jaiswal said the J P Ganga Path had been completed and inaugurated, and extensions to Digha-Bihta-Koilwar in the west and Munger-Sultanganj-Bhagalpur-Sabour in the east had been approved at a cost of Rs16,465 crore.

These projects will be implemented under the Hybrid Annuity Model to encourage private investment.He said the RCD currently maintains 16,784km of district roads, of which 5,343 km are single-lane. Widening work is underway on 2,000km while the remaining roads will also be upgraded.Jaiswal added that Bihar has 6,392km of national highways and multiple expressway and high-speed corridor projects are underway with central support to ensure smoother, safer and uninterrupted traffic movement across the state.