Bihar146;s roads to recovery

In the year or so the Nitish regime has been in charge, safety and security have improved but roads continue to remain a nightmare 8212; despite tall promises made by road construction department. The Patna High Court recently observed that officials should stop talking big and start building roads.

The state government, however, claims that the wait is over and 2007 will see construction of roads on a war footing across the state. 8220;A lot of time was consumed in planning since we wanted to construct quality roads. Now everything is in place and construction work has started all over the state,8221; pointed out Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav.

It is National Highways NHs that have earned Bihar a lot of bad name. Road travel in Bihar had hit the headlines a number of times during the previous RJD regime. Though belatedly, the state has realised that mending NHs should be its first priority since they play the role of showcases in improving the investment climate. It has started repairing all important NHs from its own kitty, earmarking Rs 307 crore for repairs.

8220;Allocation from the Centre towards maintenance of National Highways is very poor. Moreover it takes lot of time to get estimates sanctioned from the Centre. So if we continue to wait the roads will turn worse. So we have started repair work from our own fund and urged the Centre to reimburse,8221; said Yadav.

Though it will take a lot of time before roads in Bihar come up to the national standard, the state is set to benefit from some National Highway Development Programmes launched by the Centre.

Under the showcase Golden Quadrilateral GQ project, 205 km of the state8217;s national highway network is being made into four-lane expressways. Then under the East-West corridor project 513 km long NH has been covered. The East-West corridor will come as a major boon for the state since the proposed road runs parallel to the Nepal border and covers an area which was annually gets cut off from the mainland during the monsoon due to floods.

The most important of these, however, is the NHDP, Phase III A, a project which aims at four-laning other important road of the country apart from those covered under the GQ and East-West and North-South programmes. Under this, Bihar is set to benefit the most with the Centre proposing to adopt 890 km of state8217;s national highway. This project will cover almost all important roads connecting the state8217;s capital to different towns of the state.

Yadav however expressed annoyance over delay by the Centre in sanction of this project. He said the Centre had agreed in April last year to bring a cabinet note within one month for including 890 km in NHDP, Phase III A. 8220;It8217;s nearing one year now and despite reminders in this regard we are still awaiting clearance from the Centre,8221; he said.

While NHs form showcase roads, it is major district roads and village roads which will make a difference at the ground level and fetch votes for the coalition in power when it seeks re-election. To start with, the road department had chalked out an ambitious plan to build district roads of good quality. For this 21 packages were formulated and floated for global tenders. The packages were formulated in a manner that only big companies could bid and thereby build quality roads. But it received a jolt when very few companies outside Bihar turned up, forcing the road department to split the packages. Out of 21, the package was successfully awarded in only nine cases and for others it has been compelled to depend on local construction companies.

8220;Whatever the case, quality will not be compromised. We have a rule in place that for three years the contractor is liable for maintenance,8221; the minister stated. He said that MDRs worth Rs 1,400 crore has been tendered so far and work on them is scheduled to be completed by March 2008.

Apart from these the state will undertake two other important schemes 8212; the Chief Minister8217;s Rural Road and the Bridge Project 8212; in the financial year 2007-08. Under this, villages with a population above 500 would be connected by roads and bridges.

8220;The project has already been launched and construction work will start soon,8221; said the minister. Rs 125 crore and Rs 50 crore have been allotted for the two schemes. This is apart from the Prime Minister8217;s Rural Road Project as well as Bharat Nirman project, under which villages having a population above 1,000 will be connected by all-weather roads.