L&T-Daewoo JV to construct new six-lane bridge over Ganga in Patna

Bridge will be a great respite for commuters going towards north Bihar from Patna

L&T Construction and Daewoo Engineering joint venture has bagged order for construction of a six-lane bridge over Ganga river, parallel to Mahatama Gandhi Setu. The consortium was chosen by the Bihar government after it emerged as lowest bidder.

Four other bidders — including HCL-Hyundai Engineering, China Railway First Group and China Railway Construction — failed to win the contract as they had submitted higher bids. The bid documents will now be sent to Asian Development Bank (ADB) for clearance as International Financial Institution (IFC) is funding two-third of the project.

The construction is expected to start by February next year. The upcoming bridge will be a great respite for the commuters going towards north Bihar from Patna. At present, they have to take the ever-congested Gandhi Setu, which is under repair for more than three decades now. The Setu is right now only operational bridge over river Ganga in the state, therefore considered as a lifeline for Bihar.

The proposed bridge will have its northern end at Biddupur in Vaishali district, which falls under the Raghopur constituency. The constituency is represented RJD Chief Lalu Prasad's younger son and the new Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Tejaswi Prasad Yadav. The bid is cleared on Monday, when Yadav took charge of Road Construction Department. The southern side would be at Kacchi Dargah in Patna.

One senior official stated, "The new minister took great interest in this project. He considers this project as his priority. Therefore, we intend to finish this project as soon as possible. We will send the documents to the ADB by the end of this week and expect their response by the end of this year. We hope that the work will begin by February next year."

The project would cost a total of Rs. 5,000 crore, of which Rs. 3,000 crore will be financed by the ADB. The state government has already allotted the rest of the amount. The proposed bridge became a feuding point between the state and centre governments during the run-up to the state assembly earlier this year. The centre had shown interest in construction of the bridge, but the state government refused to let go.