Patna, Aug. 28: Nitish Kumar once offered people hope to travel to Patna in six hours from any part of Bihar, but for officials, it’s a dream proving difficult to turn into reality.

A Hyderabad company, assigned the job to renovate a state highway in Patna, has recently served the government a termination notice. The firm said it was pulling out because the road construction department failed to hand over the site.

Patel Engineering Ltd, the company, was given the job to renovate the 86.8km State Highway 81 (Sakkaddi-Chandi-Sandesh-Sahar-Bihta-Danwara-Nasrigunj) in Patna district in 2011.

On August 19, it shot off a letter-cum-notice to Bihar State Road Development Corporation, a wing of the state road construction department, stating that it was no more willing to work on it.

In the notice for termination of contract, Patel Engineering has asked the corporation to pay its dues and compensate for losses sustained during the course of the project.

The Telegraph failed to independently speak to the firm officials but has a copy of the letter sent to chief general manager, Bihar State Road Development Corporation.

The letter invoked a clause that entitled the firm to terminate the contract “if the employer substantially failed to perform his obligations in such manner as to materially and adversely affect the economic balance of the contract, and/or the ability of the contractor to perform the contract”.

D.N. Prasad, chief general manager, Bihar State Road Development Corporation, could not be contacted despite several attempts. Road development minister Lallan Singh told The Telegraph that he had no knowledge that the Hyderabad firm had sent a notice for termination of contract. “I don’t know about what you are saying,” he said.

The firm started work on October 12, 2011, and the government was supposed to hand over the entire project stretch, free of all “encumbrances” (a thing that prevents somebody from doing what they want) within 180 days — by April 11, 2012. Till now, 57 per cent of the land is yet to be handed over.

With two months left for the expiry of the original contract, only 36.47km of project has been made available to firm. Claiming the employer had carried out fundamental default since the site was never handed over to the contractor according to schedule, the termination letter stated the site was handed over on piecemeal basis.

As always, land acquisition trouble hampered work on the stretch handed over.

The firm added: “Even in the land which has been handed over on piecemeal basis, the contractor could not execute the work in a peaceful manner because of consistent obstructions by villagers, who were protesting against the non-payment of compensation by the employer for the land acquired.”

On allegations of non-compliance of contract obligations, minister Singh added: “If this has happened, it’s really wrong. We would have to look into this matter.”

Sources said this was not the first time the road development corporation was faced with such a crisis.

Gokul Krishna Constructions Pvt. Ltd, another Hyderabad firm, was given the job to renovate a Chhapra road, but it, too, left the work midway two months ago for land problems.

So is the case with the ambitious Ganga driveway project.

The 23.5km road, upon completion, would connect the west and east ends of Patna. But the government has failed to acquire around 262 acres, affecting work. The problem is not at just one point, as land acquisition has to be carried out in three districts — Patna, Vaishali and Saran.

The Telegraph raised the issue in its June 23, 2014, report “Driveway dream crash-lands”.

Former chief minister Nitish had laid the foundation stone of the Rs 3,160-crore project at Digha Ghat — the originating point — on October 11, 2013. Ten months down the line, work has come to a standstill.

Hyderabad’s Navayuga Engineering Company has been awarded the work for construction of the driveway and Bihar State Road Development Corporation has been assigned to look into the project development. A total of around 530 acres of land is required for the project, of which the government possesses approximately 268 acres. Rest of the land is held privately and can only be acquired after paying compensation.