Patna, Sept. 8: In less than one-and-a-half months since the JDU and the BJP joined hands in Bihar, five major projects have been finalised between the Centre and Bihar. Agencies have also been selected to execute the projects.

The road construction department today said work on four major bridges and a road project in Bihar will commence this fiscal and would be completed 'in the stipulated time'. The first major work - a parallel bridge to the existing Koilwar railway-cum-road bridge - will start this month.

'To bring development in Bihar the Centre and the state have now picked up pace (of work). Bridges and flyovers help a state in generating revenue. My meeting with (Union) minister of road, transport and highways Nitin Gadkari is bearing fruits,' Nand Kishore said.

The Centre and the state under the projects of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will jointly execute the bridges. Yesterday, NHAI chairman Deepak Kumar met chief minister Nitish Kumar in Patna to discuss the projects being executed by the Centre. The 1.53km parallel bridge to Koilwar in Bhojpur will connect Patna and would cost Rs 186 crore.

'Under the Patna-Ara-Buxar road there is a proposal to construct a parallel four-lane bridge to Koilwar and its construction will start this month. It would be completed by December 2019,' Nand Kishore said. The minister said under the Patna-Ara-Buxar road another bridge would be constructed in Buxar over Ganga parallel to the existing bridge. This Rs 96-crore bridge would be 1.12-km long.

'The work on the Buxar bridge will also start next month and will be completed within the stipulated time. There was a long-pending demand of a bridge in Mokama and finally we have decided to construct one near Hatidah between Bakhtiyarpur and Simariya. The construction work will start this fiscal and it would be a six-lane bridge (8.15km) costing Rs 714.53 crore. The work has been awarded,' Nand Kishore said.

Accompanied by NHAI regional officer A.K. Mishra in the RCD conference hall, the minister said the work on the road portion of the Munger-rail-cum road bridge will start this fiscal. As things stand now, only the rail portion is functional. The 14.5-km road, including the approach road, will cost Rs 227.27 crore.

He added that the Biharsharif-Barbigha-Mokama (55km) project costing Rs 399 crore, which was pending for the past several years, will finally commence next month.

The minister added that Patna-Ara-Buxar four-lane road project will not be extended to Lucknow and a direct connection between Patna and Uttar Pradesh will be made.

'The Patna-Ara-Buxar four-lane road would be connected with Ghazipur Expressway. Buxar would be connected with Ghazipur and soon the survey for the project would be carried out. This project will make journey easy for people travelling to Lucknow from Patna. There is already an expressway between Lucknow and Delhi, so Delhi would be directly connected to Patna. The central government has approved the project and it would be executed by the NHAI,' Nand Kishore said.

The minister will also inspect the ongoing restructuring work of Gandhi Setu from the Hajipur side on Saturday.