Centre sanctions funds for ₹15,000-cr ring road in Patna

The State Road Construction Department (RDC) in Bihar, which is building an outer ring road around the capital city got another booster after the Centre agreed to bear the cost for the acquisition of land required to build a 14-km long four-lane road from Ram Nagar to Kachhi Dargah. This is a crucial stretch of the 130-km-long ring road project, being executed at the cost of ₹15,000 crore, for which the RDC was looking for financial support to go ahead with the mega project. While the Central government has decided to bear the civil cost of the entire project, the State government is supposed to bear the expenses for land acquisition. The Centre had agreed to spend ₹800- ₹1000 crore on acquiring the land from farmers and other agencies. As this is a greenfield project, the farmers need to be taken into confidence for selling their land as per the prevalent land acquisition Act. The NHAI has already started the process of building 39-km long, four/six lane road between Kanhauli in Bihta and Ram Nagar costing ₹823 crore in southern Patna, which will be the first phase of the ring road project and has been sanctioned under the PM's special package to Bihar in 2014.