Patna, Jan. 1: Union minister for road transport and highways C.P. Joshi will inaugurate the Kosi Mahasetu on February 6.

The bridge would change the travel map of Kosi region. It would bring the two parts of Mithila region, separated by the Kosi river, closer in terms of road connectivity.

“According to the official letter, the Union minister for road transport and highways will be coming to Bihar on February 6 and inaugurate the bridge on the same day,” a senior officer of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) today told The Telegraph.

The NHAI officer said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar might accompany the Union minister for the inauguration ceremony.

Earlier, there were talks about likely visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bihar for inaugurating the bridge.

The 1,800-metre-long bridge having 39 spans would provide connectivity across the Kosi river within Supaul district as well as between Madhubani and Supaul districts. The bridge would reduce the travelling time of the residents of the area. At present they have to take circuitous route to cross the river.

The bridge would reduce the journey time between the two districts by around five hours. At present it takes around eight hours to travel from Madhubani to Supaul district.

Rs 575 crore has been spent in constructing the four-lane bridge and its approach roads. The total length of approach roads and the bridge is 10.63km.

“The Mahasetu is part of the East-West corridor project of which 487km falls under Bihar,” said the NHAI official, adding that the whole stretch of Bihar would become operational on the same date.

The Bihar stretch of the corridor starts from Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border in Gopalganj district and passes through East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Saharsa, Supaul, Araria and Purnea districts. It enters Bengal through Dalkola on Bihar-Bengal border. Rs 3,000 crore has been spent for the construction of this stretch.

Work on the Bihar stretch of the corridor was awarded in 2005 and it was likely to be completed in 2008. But the project got delayed by about four years.

“Massive floods of 2007 in north Bihar districts played a spoilsport as earth work done before the actual construction was washed away, forcing the companies to start the project from a scratch. Some time was also consumed in acquiring land for the project,” said the NHAI officer citing reasons for the delay.

The delay in completion of the project led to cost escalation. Originally the stretch was supposed to be constructed at the cost of Rs 2,000. But it surged to Rs 3,000 crore because of the delay.