Nitin Gadkari set to launch seven road and river development projects worth Rs 872 crore in Bihar on Wednesday

New Delhi: Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate and lay foundation stones for seven road and river projects in Bihar, entailing Rs 871.61 crore investment, on Wednesday.

He will be accompanied by Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radhamohan Singh and others.

The announcement was made in a statement on Tuesday by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It said that the minister will inaugurate or lay foundation stone for two national highways projects worth Rs 505 crore in Raxaul.

These include foundation stone for work of widening of 69 km section of NH-28A from Piprakothi to Motihari and Raxaul with a cost of Rs 333.60 crore, and inauguration of 2-lane 40 km section of NH-28B from Chhapra to Misrauli with a cost of Rs 171.40 crore, it said.

The minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of four national highway projects worth Rs 353.71 crore at Bagaha, Pashchim Champaran.

These include widening to two-lane and strengthening of 24 km road from Misrauli to Parsauni with a cost of Rs 93.84 crore, widening and strengthening of 37 km road from Manuvapul to Yagnapatti-Navalpur-Raywal Chowk with a cost of Rs 128.90 crore under Central Road Fund (CRF), and construction of rail over bridge (ROB) at 91 km and 94 km with the cost of Rs 131.97 crore respectively.

Gadkari will also initiate the development of 300 km long river route from Hajipur to Triveni Ghat at a cost of Rs 12.9 crore under dredging work in river Gandak for facilitating water transport.

This will help in generating cargo transport capacity of 11.6 MT in the next five years, the statement said adding, there will be Roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) terminals at Vaishali, Kalyanpur, Betia and Bagaha.

The project will provide cargo connectivity from river Ganga and transport facility up to Nepal by waterway.