BJP urges Bihar govt to hand over bridge project to Centre

In a dig at the state government for poor maintenance of roads in Bihar, the BJP today asked it to hand over construction of a proposed bridge over the Ganga to the Centre which has volunteered to take it up.
The state government should re-consider a proposal from the Centre to undertake construction of a proposed river bridge between Kucchi Dargah in Patna and Bidupur in Vaishali district at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement.
The Nitish Kumar government has sought an assistance of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre for constructing the bridge besides seeking Rs 3,000 crore as loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the purpose, he said.

The state government would be able to save the entire cost of the project by handing it over to the Centre which has already put forth a request in this regard, Modi said.
This new bridge has been proposed to be erected parallel to the Gandhi Setu, which connects Patna and Hajipur.
Observing that roads under the state's jurisdiction were in shambles, Modi asked the Bihar government to pay heed to the Centre's voluntary offer to construct the four-km long bridge, in addition to the 16-km approach road, and use the resources at its disposal in maintaining existing roads.

He also sought to question the state government's will to construct the bridge saying that it had floated a tender after general elections last year in which its cost was estimated to be Rs 3,000 crore, but the same has increased to Rs 5,000 crore now and the tender was still to be finalised.

The estimated cost may go up to Rs 10,000 crore by the time the bridge gets completed over the next couple of years, going by the delay in tendering process and commencement of construction works, Modi said.
The ruling JD(U) is trying to get political mileage by insisting to undertake the bridge project at its own cost, the senior BJP leader said.