The urban development and housing department has started the process of selection of a consultant to prepare a comprehensive mobility plan for the Patna Metro rail project.

The department has invited 23 consultants empanelled with the Government of India for preparation of city mobility plans.

The state government has approved the Patna Metro rail project and a final nod, including financial assistance, is awaited from the Centre.

Senior officials in the urban development and housing department said the mobility plan is being prepared as per a recent query made by the Centre.

"The Centre has asked about the city mobility plan and mode of funding for the Metro rail project. The Centre sought clarification as to whether the city mobility plan had provision for Metro rail," said a senior department official. "Though a comprehensive mobility plan was prepared for Patna in 2010-11, it needs to be revised in the light of the proposed Metro rail project."

The city mobility plan would include aspects such as traffic surveys, including traffic volume at key corridors, traffic flow at key junctions where traffic enters and exits the city, road-intersection points and alighting points at identified city bus stops.

Traffic demand prediction, including the load on public transport over a certain period of time, will also be assessed under the mobility plan.

The firms empanelled with Government of India for preparation of city mobility plan include RITES Ltd. (which has prepared the detailed project report for Patna Metro rail project), Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd., L&T-Ramboll Consulting Engineers Limited and Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) University, Ahmedabad (which prepared the draft master plan for Patna) among others.