A little over three years from now, driving across the Ganga would be a pleasure for Patnaites. Decks have been cleared for complete overhaul of Gandhi Setu and a new four-lane bridge across the river barely 10km away.

“Ministry of road transport and highways recently gave approval for going ahead with these two projects,” a senior officer of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told The Telegraph on Friday. The bids for both would be floated in May. One firm would be selected for executing both the projects in public-private partnership mode.

The NHAI was given the task of preparing a report for improving the condition of Gandhi Setu and to explore the possibility of constructing a new bridge parallel to the existing one. The NHAI, through competitive bidding, roped in the services of Mumbai-based SN Bhobe & Associates as a consultant for conducting a detailed study for undertaking renovation work of Gandhi Setu and finding out the feasibility of constructing a new bridge.

“Based on the report submitted by the consultant, a detailed presentation was made before the senior officials of ministry of road transport and highways. We recently got consent for going ahead with the projects,” said the NHAI official.

The Mumbai-based firm would formulate a detailed report and submit it latest by the first week of May. Tenders would be floated for inviting bids from private firms on its basis.

“The tender would be floated by May 15 and three months’ time would be given to the agencies for submitting bids,” added the official.

Once the selection process is over, the agency concerned would be given six months’ time for resource mobilisation. In the next 30 months, both renovation of Gandhi Setu and the construction of the new bridge would have to be completed.

The interested agencies would have to take up both the works — the renovation of Gandhi Setu and construction of the new four-lane bridge whose northern end would be near Raghopur Diara in Vaishali district and the southern end at Kachchi Dargah in Patna district — as one package.

As far as the nature of the renovation of Gandhi Setu is concerned, the consultant report says all its 46 pillars are in good shape. Only the superstructure, on which the bridge rests, would have to be changed.

Superstructure lies on the top of the pillars. Its top part has the road. The bottom portion remains attached with the pillars.

“The selected agency would decide on the technology for changing the superstructure. The firm, however, would have to adhere to two basics. First, it would have to design the work in such a way that traffic movement on the Setu is not affected. Second, the it would have to ensure that debris of the existing superstructure is not dumped in the river,” said the NHAI official.

The officer said the selected agency would also decide on the technology and the design of the new bridge. The NHAI would provide details on its origin points and width.

The idea of constructing a parallel bridge was floated in July last year. The idea was to reduce the vehicular traffic pressure on Gandhi Setu. The feasibility study of the new bridge was conducted after the consent of the ministry of road transport and highways in principle.