The ambitious Bihar Museum project is moving at a sluggish pace.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar - the museum is his brainchild - inaugurated the museum on August 7 last year though only two of out of seven blocks were completed, raising allegations that the opening had been done in haste ahead of the Assembly elections. The state government roped in consultants from countries like Canada, Japan and Singapore to ensure that the museum is up to international standards.

Nearly a year later, not even one out of the remaining five blocks have been completed and opened for visitors. Senior officials in the art, culture and youth affairs department claimed that the three blocks in the History Gallery might be opened by October-November. However, the artefacts to be kept at the gallery are still to be finalised. Most artefacts kept at Patna Museum at present are proposed to be shifted to the Bihar Museum.

J.P.N. Singh, director (museums), state art, culture and youth affairs department claimed that the museum would be completely ready by the end of this year.

However, highly placed sources claimed that the project cost may increase from the initial estimate of Rs 498 crore to around Rs 700 crore.

"The fault of the departments concerned is that they are not penalising the agencies involved in the project for time overrun," a senior state government official said under condition of anonymity. "If the agencies are not penalised the government would have to bear the cost."

The official added that the consultants and architects involved in the project could overlooked local factors, which added to the project delay.

"Though the agencies involved in the project are experts in their respective field but they could not foresee several local factors in the museum project. Thus, they keep making some modification or additions in the project, which further delays the work," said the official.

The official claimed that some of the materials being used for the project are not easily available. Most of the front façade of the museum has been covered with Corten steel, which changes colour with time. Stone sculptors from Jodhpur have been hired, and fibre-reinforced polymer and galvanised fibre reinforced concrete have been used to make the replicas.

There are also grey areas with regard to manpower recruitment.

"More than 30 experts have been appointed for various positions in the Bihar Museum," said an official in the art, culture and youth affairs department. "While the selection was not done purely on competitive basis, most of these people are drawing their salaries every month without doing much work as majority part of the museum is not ready. For instance, the documentation of the artefacts to be shifted from Patna Museum to Bihar Museum is not complete."

A team of museum and archaeological experts have shortlisted the artefacts to be shifted. Majority of the around 25,000 prominent artefacts to be kept at Bihar Museum are proposed to be placed in the three blocks of the History Gallery. The lesser artefacts would be placed in the Visual Gallery. Three art galleries are planned: for regional art, historical art and contemporary art. A Bihari diaspora gallery would dedicated to renowned personalities hailing from Bihar.