Soon the construction of the much-awaited 23-km long 4-lane elevated corridor between Danapur and Bihta to start ,after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) agree to modify the design of its eastern end to avoid vehicular congestion near the Danapur railway station.
The divisional railway office of Danapur will part with an additional 12 acre land and NHAI has given its consent to increase length of the ramp falling on Danapur-Saguna by 250 metres. It will lead to additional expenses of ₹25 crore to NHAI.
An agreement to this effect was arrived at a meeting chaired by chief secretary Amir Subhani and attended by additional chief secretary, roads, Pratyay Amrit and divisional rail manager (DRM), Danapur, Prabhat Kumar, a fortnight ago.
The state government, which was tasked by the Patna high court to resolve the issues coming in the way of commencement of work on the ₹2,200 crore project, apprised the court last week, said the road construction minister Nitin Nabin, adding that the elevated road would also drastically cut the travel time from Patna to the upcoming civilian airport at Bihta.
The project was mooted by NHAI on the instruction of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in October 2018. Accordingly, the state cabinet in May last year allocated ₹456 crore to be spent on acquisition of around 45 hectare land. “The railway is giving 22 acre land near Danapur railway station and the state government has partly compensated it by exchanging the Hardinge Park area for expansion of Patna junction,” said the minister.
In pursuance to the order of a division bench of the high court comprising chief justice Sanjay Karol and justice S Kumar in January, the chief secretary held rounds of meeting with the officials of NHAI, railways and the district administration to bring them on the same page.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) undertook ₹1,200 crore project to develop the existing Indian Air Force station airport as civilian airfield to offload traffic at the JNP International Airport at Patna. The state government proposed the elevated corridor to ensure smooth road connectivity with the capital city.
District magistrate, Patna, Chandrashekhar Singh said that the district administration would start land acquisition once NHAI completed the formalities for final alignment and identify the exact land for the purpose.