Patna, April 15: Tenders for constructing the 564-km-long road along India-Nepal border would be floated within two months. Sharing this information on the sidelines of the janata darbar organised for party workers in the BJP office today, road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav said a two-lane road would be constructed under this project.

The proposed road would connect seven districts, including West Champaran, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Supaul, Araria and Kishanganj, along the 725-km-long India-Nepal border. The road is expected to come up in the next five years.

The central and the state governments would jointly carry out the ambitious project which would benefit not only the people residing near the India-Nepal border, but would also benefit Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) which has been entrusted with the task of maintaining vigil on the porous border.

While state government would bear the cost of land acquisition for this project, the Centre would bear the construction cost. The state road construction department would be the implementing agency of the project, which has an estimated cost component of over Rs 1,700 crore.

The road to be constructed in five years would be 7m wide. There would be 2.5m wide flanks on its both sides.

While finalising the alignment of the proposed road, efforts would be made to set the alignment in such a way that all the SSB border outposts are connected through this road. In case local topography does not allow it, link roads would be constructed to connect the border outposts with the road.

There are 252 SSB border outposts along the India-Nepal road.

As things stand now, the border residents do not have a single road for smooth movement from one district to another. They have to travel from one place to another using circuitous routes. Most of the existing roads are either village roads or the ones which were built many years ago.

While the road construction minister was upbeat about the ambitious road project along the border, he expressed his concern over the poor condition of Gandhi Setu. The minister said the Centre was responsible for the bad condition of the bridge.

“Neither it is providing us funds to carry out the repair work nor it is allowing the state government to do the same on its own,” Yadav said.

The minister’s grievance sounds logical as based on experts’ advice, the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre seeking Rs 167 crore for comprehensive repairing of the bridge but the Centre has not released the fund till date. The state had sought the fund as experts were of the opinion that the partial repair of the bridge, which provides the main road link between north and south Bihar, would not solve the problem.

The state road construction department had explored the possibility of getting the bridge repair work done by a private party under the public-private-partnership mode but the Centre did not give permission for this.

Yadav also spoke about the Centre’s failure to provide funds for carrying out the repair work of BP Mandal Bridge on Kosi river, the main road link for residents of Saharsa, Madhepura and Supaul districts of Kosi region. The state had sent a Rs 43 crore proposal to the Centre for repairing the bridge, closed for vehicular movement for the past five months and people have to use boats to cross the river.

Having failed to get the central funds, the state government is using its own resources to construct a sheet pile bridge. The Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam provided the funds for its construction under the corporate social responsibility scheme. The bridge is likely to become functional in the third week of May.