Bihar: Work on new bridge parallel to Mahatma Gandhi Setu to begin next month

PATNA: The construction on a new four-lane bridge parallel to Mahatma Gandhi Setu (MGS) on the Ganga will start within a month as the bidding process for the project worth Rs1794.37 crore completed on Friday, state road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav told TOI.
Once completed, this bridge will ease the pressure on existing Mahatma Gandhi Setu, which is known as the lifeline between north and south Bihar.
Since the SP Singla Constructions Pvt Limited emerged the lowest bidder, it would now be awarded the work order, the minister said and added that the construction work would begin after mobilization work gets over.
Additional chief secretary (RCD) Amrit Lal Meena said the target is to complete the construction process in 48 months. Meena said the total length of the new bridge would be around 14km-long — from Zero Mile in Patna up to Ramashish Chowk at Hajipur. The length of its superstructure, excluding its approach road, is 5.63km.
It is a part of PM Narendra Modi’s special package for Bihar which he had announced before the 2015 assembly polls.
Fresh tenders were floated for the construction of this bridge in June this year and seven firms had qualified for the financial bid. The SP Singla Construction Pvt Limited quoted Rs1,794.37 crore as the bid amount.
Officials had cited technical errors for the cancellation of previous tender. However, sources said the reason for cancellation of previous tender was the partnership of Chinese firms in several of the companies which had participated in the earlier bid.
Bid process initiated for Ara-Mohania road: Altogether 25 firms have participated in the bidding process initiated by the RCD for widening of Ara-Mohania road. It will be a four-lane road as the existing one has only two lanes. The entire stretch has been divided into two packages. The Ara-Parariya stretch is 54.53km-long and has to be widened with an estimated cost of Rs797.4 crore. The widening of 60.80km-long Parariya-Mohania stretch will cost Rs860.91 crore. RCD minister Nand Kishore Yadav said 13 bidders have participated for the work on the first stretch and 12 for the second.
“Land acquisition has already been done. Once the bidding process is completed, construction work will begin,” said Yadav, adding that the bidding process will be completed in three months and construction work will be done in 30 months. He further said once this project is completed, Ara will also get four-lane connectivity with the Grand Trunk Road and that will help in the development of the entire region.