Cabinet okays ₹6,014 cr highway, railways projects in poll-bound Bihar

Cabinet clears ₹6,014 cr highway and railway projects in Bihar to boost freight, tourism, and cross-border trade, cutting travel time and expanding rail capacity

The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved two projects worth ₹6,014 crore -- the construction of a four-lane highway in Sahebganj-Areraj-Bettiah section of the National Highway (NH)-139W, and a multi-tracking project of the Bakhtiyarpur–Rajgir–Tilaiya single railway line project in poll-bound Bihar. 

“The proposed four-lane greenfield project is to improve connectivity between the state capital, Patna, with Bettiah connecting the north Bihar districts of Vaishali, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran and West Champaran up to the areas along the Indo-Nepal border.  The project will support the movement of long-distance freight traffic, improve access to key infrastructure and facilitate regional economic development by improving connectivity to agricultural zones, industrial areas, and cross-border trade routes,” the cabinet said. 

The ₹3,822 crore project will be built on hybrid annuity model, where the government pays 40 per cent of the project cost to the developer upfront and the remaining in annuities. 

The project will improve access to key heritage and Buddhist tourist sites, including the Kesariya Buddha Stupa (Sahebganj), Someshwarnath Mandir (Areraj), Jain Mandir and Vishwa Shanti Stupa (Vaishali), and Mahavir Temple (Patna), thereby strengthening the Buddhist circuit and international tourism potential of Bihar. 

The new alignment will reduce the overall travel time between Sahebganj and Bettiah, from 2.5 hours to an hour. 

The ₹2,192 crore project of doubling railway line will cover four districts in the state and will increase the existing network of the Indian Railways by about 104 km. 

Rail minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the existing line is saturated, adding that the doubling will facilitate faster passenger train and freight movement. 

“This is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, fly ash etc. The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 26 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum),” the cabinet said.