The road construction department is scouting for a consultant to conduct a feasibility study for a cable suspension bridge over the Ganga in Patna to ease load on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu.

Similar to the six-lane Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the US, the proposed cable suspension bridge would also have six lanes. It would connect Kacchi Dargah in Patna City with Bidupur in Vaishali.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had approved the project last year after a preliminary feasibility study. The proposed bridge would be 4-km-long and connected with 16km of approach roads.

Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed that the NHAI had approved the suspension cable-based technology to construct the bridge.

“The Gandhi Setu is not in a good shape at present. It cannot sustain the load of heavy vehicles for too long. So, it was thought to construct a new bridge parallel to it, which could sustain the long-term requirement of a bridge to connect north Bihar with the capital,” he told The Telegraph.

In a cable suspension bridge, steel cables hang between two towers and are anchored to the ground or to a massive structure at both ends of the construction. The lightweight steel cables support the bridge deck.

Yadav said the department would float tenders for the construction of the bridge based on the detailed project report after the feasibility study is ready by the end of this fiscal.

“The department is in the process of selecting a consultant, who would conduct the feasibility study for the proposed bridge. The consultant is likely to be selected by the end of October and would have to furnish the corresponding detailed project report by the end of this financial year. Based on the findings, the department would float tenders for construction,” he said.

The project will be executed in public-private partnership (PPP) mode by Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd, an undertaking of the road construction department.

“Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd is the nodal agency for this project. It would be executed in PPP mode with an estimated outlay of Rs 2,000 crore. The suspension bridge is expected to be constructed in six years,” the minister added.