Bihar awaits land for four-lane road
2 min readPATNA: The state road construction department (RCD) is awaiting the railway ministry’s nod for transfer of its land near Danapur railway station for construction of a four-lane semi-elevated road between the proposed Bihta airbase and Danapur railway station.
The 18.5km four-lane road is proposed to be developed to provide expressway connectivity to a civil enclave being developed at the airbase of the Indian Air Force at Bihta for commercial flight operations.
While National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is proposed to construct the 13.5km elevated four-lane road from Bihta to Shivala, the remaining 5km stretch from Shivala to Danapur station will be constructed by the RCD. According to a senior RCD official, it is for the purpose of construction of the road from Shivala that the state government is seeking land from the railways.
“Except near Danapur station, sufficient land is available for construction of four-lane road. The government has urged the railways to hand over its land inside the railway colony and to the north of Danapur station to the state,” the official said on Thursday.
Earlier, CM Nitish Kumar, while speaking at an event here on Sunday in the presence of railway minister Piyush Goyal, had raised the demand for the same land. The CM had said the state government required land measuring 15m wide and 1.6km long in the railway colony located on the west of Danapur station and 20m wide and 350m long land on the north of the station for construction of Danapur-Bihta four-lane road.
Sources said a detailed project report for construction of Shivala-Bihta stretch was being prepared by the NHAI. The elevated road is proposed to be developed with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1, 400 crore.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has targeted to start construction of first block of the proposed civil enclave at Bihta airbase in 2019. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 500 crore. The Patna district administration has acquired 108 acres of land near Bihta airbase for the purpose of construction of civil enclave. The land is likely to be handed over to the AAI soon.
Apart from Danapur-Shivala-Bihta road, Bihta is set to get two more four-lane roads – Patna-Buxar NH-30 and Bihta-Sarmera SH-78.
Courtesy: TNN
