Patna, Feb. 1: Ganga Driveway, a 20.5-km-long four-lane road that would provide hassle-free connectivity between West and East Patna, has overcome its last hurdle. Water resources department has given its clearance to the ambitious project, a part of which would pass over the river.

Road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav told The Telegraph: “We have got the no-objection certificate from the water resources department. It was necessary because the road would be built along the Ganga.”

Yadav said his department would issue the request for qualification (RFQ), a document eliciting conditions to execute the project for the prospective bidders, in the second week of February.

“The interested firms would submit their technical bids thereafter. Based on the proposals received through this process, we will shortlist the agencies having the ability to manage the ambitious project,” the minister said.

Yadav said: “The four-lane road would cut down the travelling time between the western part of the city and the eastern end drastically. The new road will bring down the travel time to just 25 minutes from the existing two hours.”

The construction work of the ambitious project would begin in the next financial year (2012-2013). If all goes well, the four-lane dream road would be thrown open to public in 2015. The estimated project cost is Rs 2234.46 crore.

The western end of the road would be near Digha Ghat. Its eastern end would be at Didarganj. The driveway would have an elevated stretch (7.6km-long) between Collectorate Ghat and Gai Ghat so that existing structures like the collectorate and PMCH are not disturbed.