Big boost for Bihar! Prime Minister Narendra Modi-chaired Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the construction of a 5.634 km long four-lane bridge across the Ganga river, just 38m on the upstream side of the existing MG Setu, along with approaches from km 0/0 to km 14/500 on National Highway 19 at Patna, Bihar. The project, worth Rs 2926.42 crore will be built over a period of three and a half years and the construction work is likely to get over by January 2023. According to a press release issued by the CCEA, the mega-project, which is 14.500 km long, passes through Patna, the capital city, Saran and Vaishali districts of Bihar. It includes 5634m long major bridge which is parallel to the existing old MG Setu, four vehicular underpasses, one rail over bridge, one 1580 m long viaduct, one 110 m long flyover, four minor bridges, five bus shelters, and thirteen road junctions.
The state of Bihar is divided by the Ganga river into two parts, North and South Bihar and the existing four-lane MG Setu, which is a crucial bridge across the river linking the northern part of the state with Patna, other than facilitating the movement of traffic from Nepal, North Bihar, East Uttar Pradesh and North Bengal to Patna, South Bihar and Jharkhand. According to CCEA, even though the old MG Setu is four-lane, an additional bridge is required considering the increasing volume of traffic, which at present is more than 60,000 PCUs.
The new four-lane bridge while giving support to the existing old four-lane MG Setu will provide for an arrangement of eight-lane movement of traffic. With the combination of both the bridges, the traffic crossing the Ganga river will get best mobility, convenience and comfort along with safer travel. With the establishment of this project, the traffic movement is likely to get facilitated without any congestion for the road users. Additionally, during the construction of the bridge, direct employment of about 20.94 lakh man-days will be generated.
Before May 2014, there were only 13 bridges on Ganga river between Allahabad and Farakka. Under the regime of Modi government, as many as 20 additional bridges have been planned or constructed in this stretch. Out of these 20 bridges, 5 bridges have been already thrown open to the public, while the construction work on 7 bridges is in progress. Soon, the work on the remaining 8 bridges on Farakka, Sahebganj, Mokamah and Phaphamau is likely to start. Interestingly, the new bridge over the Ganga river would be the 30th one on Allahabad-Farakka stretch.
