Patna, Sept. 1: Bihar road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav is all set meet Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on September 4.

This will be the first time Nand Kishore will have a one-to-one with Gadkari after the BJP aligned with the JDU to form a government.

Former road construction department minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had met Gadkari four times but this meeting would be different because same parties are in power both at the Centre and the state after 27 years.

'I will be meeting Nitin Gadkari ji in New Delhi on September 4, in connection with road projects in Bihar,' Nand Kishore told The Telegraph. 'I am hopeful the meeting will be fruitful. My agenda is to pace up ongoing work by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and bring the road package as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modiji.'

Looking back, when Tejashwi met Gadkari, he too had raised allocation of central road fund (CRF) for maintenance of national highways in Bihar, apart from upgrading 2,269 km of state highways and major district roads into national highways.

The Centre had rejected most demands made by the earlier Grand Alliance government, except for the one seeking increase in CRF from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore annually, and upgrading 13 state highways, 910km in length, to national highways.

Nand Kishore said his priority would be to seek increase in the fund for maintenance of national highways.

Regarding new road projects for Bihar, the minister said there are enough centrally-sponsored projects going on and the priority would be to ensure their completion.

As of now he has not fixed any amount to be sought from the Centre.

'The sanctioned projects should be completed before new projects come into the picture. As you already know, the Prime Minister has already announced Rs 5,40,000 crore. I want to expedite those projects, most of which are under way,' Nand Kishore said.

He expressed satisfaction over ongoing work on the Gandhi Setu and added that a new bridge parallel to Gandhi Setu has also been sanctioned.

Past records prove that Bihar did not get much funds when the Grand Alliance government was in power in Bihar from November 2015 to end of July this year.

But Nand Kishore claims that ever since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, the ministry of road transport and highways helped Bihar with a generous heart.

'Ever since Modi ji became Prime Minister, MORTH has given a lot to Bihar. The Prime Minister has already announced a Rs 54000 crore package to Bihar and Gadkari has sanctioned many projects,' Nand Kishore said.

'The flow of central funds has increased manifold ever since Modi ji became Prime Minister. My only focus is to raise more funds for the development of the state.'

One major work done undertaken by the Centre during the Grand Alliance government was the long-pending demand to restructure Gandhi Setu.

The Union cabinet on July 22, 2016, approved rehabilitation of the Setu at an estimated cost of Rs 1,742.01 crore.