The four-lane Ganga driveway would be ready by September 2017.

Road construction minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh said on Monday the driveway connecting the western part of the city with the east would be in place in two-and-a-half years. Replying to a question of the BJP's Baidyanath Prasad, the minister said the government had set a target to complete it by September 8, 2017.

Singh said the piling work to construct 23 pillars had been completed. The construction work of the embankment is also on.

On the construction work being withheld despite the issuance of the work order for the project, the minister said everything, including completion of the design of the project and its independent review, had to be completed by the contractor. 'We thought it appropriate to get the project's design verified or reviewed by the Indian Road Congress. It found some faults in the design and suggested some amendments. Now, the work has resumed,' Singh said.

Intervening in the matter, Leader of Opposition Sushil Kumar Modi said the work of the project - already delayed by one-and-a-half years - had started only from the Digha side. He asked the government to start work also on the Didarganj side keeping in mind the 350th birth anniversary function of Guru Gobind Singh on January 3, 2017.

Modi demanded that the government should consider completing the driveway from Didarganj to Gaighat before January 2017 so that pilgrims could avoid the congested Ashok Rajpath and straightaway take the driveway (to reach Takht Sri Harmandir Sahib). The road construction minister said the government would contemplate on the issue.

The driveway, being developed on the lines of Marine Drive in Mumbai, would ease the traffic congestion in the Patna City area, where vehicles crawl. After its completion, the travel time between Digha Ghat and Didarganj would come down drastically. At present, people need around two hours on an average to cover the distance. Once the driveway is ready, the travel time would be down to 25 minutes.

The length of the four-lane driveway would be 23.5km from Digha Ghat in the west to Didarganj in the east. Of it, around 7.6km-stretch between Collectorate Ghat and Gaighat would be an elevated structure.

Hyderabad's Navayuga is constructing the driveway. The project cost is Rs 3,160 crore.

The driveway would have pedestrian facilities, landscaping, bus shelters, traffic aid posts, medical aid posts and vehicle rescue posts. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had laid its foundation stone at Digha Ghat (near the rail-cum-road bridge) on October 11, 2013.