MoRTH kick-starts ₹872-cr road projects in Bihar

The Union Transport minister has kick-started multiple highway and river infra projects worth ₹872 crore in Bihar. The foundation stone has been laid for widening the National Highway 28-A from Piprakothi to Motihari and Raxaul (69 km) at an investment of ₹333.60 crore. The project also includes widening of NH-28B from Chhapra to Misrauli (40 km) at a cost of ₹171.40 crore. Widening of two national highways in Pashchim Champaran will include a 24-km stretch between Misrauli and Parsauni costing ₹93.84 crore and a 37-km stretch between Manuvapul and Yagnapatti-Navalpur-Raywal Chowk entailing an investment of ₹128.9 crore. These apart, Bihar also got two rail over-bridges (ROBs) built at a cost of ₹131.97 crore. Dredging work between Hajipur and Triveni Ghat worth ₹12.9 crore has also been initiated. This will be a 300-km route across river Gandak and will improve water transportation in the state and will generate cargo transport capacity of 11.6 MT. It will also provide waterway connectivity for cargo transport from river Ganga up to Nepal. The waterway will have roll-on-roll-off (RO-RO) terminals at Vaishali, Kalyanpur, Betia and Bagaha, which will help the ministry to achieve a target to award projects for 20,000 km and construct 16,420 km of national highways during fiscal 2018-19.