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Patna,(BiharTimes): After the failure of private firm to show up, the Bihar government is now planning to construct the Ganga Expressway project on its own.
In this regard it has sought financial assistance from Asian Development Bank and HUDCO. The state government envisioned this Rs 2,224 crores worth project to provide 22 kms long four-lane road along the bank of Ganga in Patna. It will thus link the eastern end of the state capital to the western end. |
As reported the government cleared the decks for the project in August last year and planned to construct the road through private-public partnership (PPP).
Work on the project was scheduled to begin by the end of 2012, but it could not happen so because the three firms––Reliance Infrastructure, Gammon India and Navyuga Constructions––shortlisted by the state did not turn up in the final bidding process.
But the road construction minister, Nand Kishore Yadav, while talking to the media recently, said the state government is still committed to this project.
He said if necessary the state government would construct the project on its own. The state government is now changing the mode of construction. It would be now constructed through either Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) mode.
The process is now reaching its conclusion and soon a global tender in this regard would be floated.
The minister said that the state government is hoping for a good response this time.
Yadav said that the state government failed to get response last time because of the global financial slowdown. The project requires a large sum of money, which the firms were unable to find. However, the state government is now evaluating the other options as well. The government now wants to begin work on the project in the next financial year. It has decided to acquire over 200 hectares of land for the expressway.
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