Patna, Aug. 27: Road construction minister Lalan Singh today said he was ready to debate the claims of the Centre regarding the projects mentioned in the special package.

The minister released documents showing that many of the projects, which are part of the package, were old ones and had been sanctioned a few years back.

Lalan's comment came a day after Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari had said that chief minister Nitish Kumar was making wrong allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rs 1.25 lakh crore package and that he was ready to debate on all packages allotted to Bihar.

"I accept the challenge of Nitin Gadkari and let's have a debate on the package. Let him decide the place and time of the debate. What the PM has done is not correct. It was re-packaging of old projects and out of 41 road projects only four are new," said Lalan.

The minister distributed the data of all the 41 projects, along with its cost, length, status with remarks. The data showed that most of the projects were sanctioned between 2007 and 2014. Some projects were under process, some at the bidding stage and some in the pipeline.

The minister added that Rs 54,713 crore projects were announced as special package for national highways for Bihar on August 18 in Ara out of which only Rs 7,160 crore were new and the rest Rs 47,553 were old. Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi slammed Nitish by saying that he should point out the old and the new projects before saying that Narendra Modi's special package was a repackaging of old schemes.

Lalan criticised Sushil, too, and said: "I have presented the data with specific date on which the projects were sanctioned. I am wondering about the person (read Sushil Kumar Modi), who is dreaming of becoming the chief minister of the state and does not have any knowledge. The people's trust has already gone down after Prime Minister's false promises during the Lok Sabha polls and this latest issue of Rs 1.25 lakh crore would make their life more miserable."

Taking cognisance of Gadkari's comment, the road construction department has decided to send a letter to his department, along with the details of identifying old and new projects.

"A special package has to be new, not an old one. This shows that despite their several claims about giving Rs 54,713 crore to Bihar, the fact remains that only four projects are new and the rest old. We have decided to send bigger details to the Centre of the projects," said Lalan.

On who is responsible for not executing the project though it was sanctioned much earlier, the minister blamed the Centre be it the UPA or any other government at the Centre.

"The National Highway Authority of India is responsible for not executing the projects and the NHAI comes under the central government. Be it the UPA or any other government. But over here we are talking about the 'special package' to Bihar, which was just repackaging of old schemes," Lalan said.