Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday set the ball rolling for two ambitious projects for Patna - the Metro rail and the city master plan.

During a review meeting of the urban development and housing department, he gave in-principle approval to the proposed Patna Metro rail project and issued instructions to get the master plan approved by the state cabinet in three months.

The plan entails development of five satellite townships south of river Ganga, thus expanding the city by 541sqkm and making it habitable for 60 lakh residents in the next 20 years.

Urban development and housing minister Maheshwar Hazari said the chief minister was very keen on the Metro project.

"The chief minister asked the officials to finalise the project proposal and get it approved by the state cabinet as soon as possible," Hazari told The Telegraph. "Thereafter, the project would be sent to the Centre for its approval and assurance of financial assistance."

The Metro proposal aims at two corridors in the first phase covering a total distance of 31km.

The first corridor will run east to west over 14.5km from Mithapur bus stand to Saguna Mor via Bailey Road and Patna Junction.

The second north-south corridor will run from Patna Junction to the proposed bus stand at Bairiya on Patna-Gaya road via Ashok Rajpath, Gandhi Maidan and Rajendra Nagar Terminal over 16.5km.

There is, of course, the proverbial slip between cup and lip.

Even if everything goes like clockwork, actual construction work on the project will not start before 2017.

It might take a month or two for the cabinet approval, a few months for the Centre's nod following which the state would seek external financial assistance and, finally, another two-three months to conduct the bidding process.

The momentum thus far is not encouraging either. At least four years have passed since the urban development department started working on its Metro project proposal. In July 2013, the railways' Rail India Technical and Economic Service (Rites) was told to prepare a feasibility report and a detailed project report for the Patna Metro.

On October 30 last year, Rites had submitted the draft technical feasibility and the detailed project report (DPR) draft to the government.

On November 13 last year, a meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh gave in-principle approval for the DPR.

On May 20 this year, a presentation on the revised DPR was also made before Nitish. The finance department had held back the project over funding-related issues - the project needs around Rs 15,000 crore - but Nitish gave instructions on Tuesday to get the issues addressed and send the proposal for cabinet approval.

Sources claimed that both the central and state governments would contribute towards the project. The state government would also approach international funding agencies such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency for soft loans.

Master plan

On Tuesday, Nitish instructed the urban development and housing department to get the new Patna master plan approved by the state cabinet within three months. Progress on the plan has also been at a snail's pace for the past four years.

In February 2011, the department had entrusted the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University-Ahmedabad with the task of carrying out a survey and providing technical assistance for the preparation of the master plan draft.

On October 19 last year, the draft was released by then urban development and housing minister Samrat Choudhary.

The Bihar Planning and Development Board approved it on August 11 this year but the state cabinet denied the final approval because the draft did not have the approval of the Patna Metropolitan Area Committee, which is yet to be formed.

"The department has given the task of electing members of the metropolitan area committee to the state election commission at the earliest," Hazari said on Tuesday.

"Following the constitution of the committee, the proposed master plan would be put before it for approval, which would pave the way for it to be sent to the state cabinet for final approval."

Water supply

Nitish also asked department officials to acquire land for construction of overhead tanks for the Patna water supply project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The work on the project began in March 2012 but has been in limbo since, as land could be made available for construction of only 22 of the 72 proposed overhead tanks.