Patna: Construction of the elevated portion of the ambitious Ganga driveway project will start from Tuesday.
Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav will inaugurate the construction work from Nauzar to Nurudaddin Ghat in Patna City area.
The work was stalled because of various reasons over the past four-and-a-half years but now the department has set a new date for completion of the work: June 2020.
"As you know, earlier there was some problem with the design of the driveway," Nand Kishore told The Telegraph. "A professional team from IIT-Roorkee carried out survey work in this regard. Accordingly, changes have been made. We are firm on completing the project on time. So far, work on pillar and embankment road was going on, but from tomorrow (Tuesday) work on the elevated portion will start at Dulli Ghat.
The project got government sanction on March 30, 2013, and was supposed to have got over by September 8, 2017, but problems in acquiring land and design, not to forget political instability in Bihar, delayed the project.
Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd, the nodal agency for executing the project, is responsible for timely completion of the project. One major change that has been carried out vis-a-vis the project is shortening of the length of the driveway from 21.5km to 20.5km.
Asked about the portion of the bridge that would be elevated and that which would be over the embankment, Nand Kishore said: "From AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies to Nurudaddin Ghat in Patna City, up to 200m west of Gopghat, it would be elevated. As far as road on the embankment is concerned it would be from Digha Ghat to Golghar."
Altogether the total stretch of the elevated road would be 11.1km of which 9km would be on the embankment.
The driveway will end near the southern end of the upcoming six-lane Kacchi-Dargha-Bidupur bridge. Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd is executing the project.
Nand Kishore also said that the driveway can be extended up to Fatua in the east and the design has been made keeping this option in mind.
"In the new design, there is provision for special connectivity to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH)," the minister said. "We have also ensured that in the amended design there is need for less land acquisition and the elevated portion is constructed in such a way that the course of the river Ganga gets affected the least."
There will be a total of 13 underpasses to help people access the Ganga, especially during Chhath.
These underpasses will be made along the embankment stretches apart from the 8ft over-bridge.
The road on the embankment would have a 5m wide space towards the Ganga and would be used as a footpath.
A total of 115 acres of land is to be acquired for the project, of which 32 acres is private land.
The driveway along the southern bank of the Ganga will reduce travel time between Digha Ghat and Didarganj from two hours to only 25 minutes. It will also ease traffic congestion in Patna.
