The road construction department is set to carry out the task of reconstructing the 63km-long Bhagalpur-Hansdiha road almost seven years after the original construction.

Superintending engineer of the road construction department P.C. Roy told The Telegraph that the tender for the construction would be issued in July and the selection of the agency would be finalised by the end of August.

"The completion of the work would take 18 months," Roy added.

The construction department has prepared an estimate of Rs 49 crore for the construction of this road that connects the northeastern region of the district to the southern parts via the Vikramshila-Ganga bridge.

For now, the Bhagalpur division of the department has initiated the process of repairing the road, which was laid in 2008, because commuters are facing a lot of trouble with the poor maintenance of the road.

A private company from Banka has been assigned the job of repairing the road by filling up ditches as part of the preliminary repairs, which would cost Rs 50 lakh.

"Mobilisation of the repair material is in progress and work would start only after monsoon ends," said a source in the company.

"We have started dumping boulders and stone dust in the damaged areas but torrential rains hamper progress,"said an employee of the company.

Expressing happiness over the initiation of repair work, Bhagalpur resident Lallan Verma said: "It is really difficult to drive on this road in its present condition. It is horrible for light vehicles because of the ditches"

Sources in the road construction department, however, hinted at a possible compromise with the quality of the new road.

"A sum of Rs 60 crore had been spent in 2008 when this road was constructed. Now that the cost of raw material has gone up, it remains to be seen if the road will be strong enough with the budget of a mere Rs 49 crore," said an official from the road construction department.