Smooth ride ahead ?

More than 1,500 km of national highways — almost half of the total 3,400 km — in Bihar will be upgraded to four-lane roads by 2007...

More than 1,500 km of national highways — almost half of the total 3,400 km — in Bihar will be upgraded to four-lane roads by 2007, said Union Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu, during his first official visit to the state.

The decision has the potential to trigger growth in the state’s economy, stagnant due to infrastructural constraints. Unveiling plans to add 800 km more in the four-lane category, more than what is already underway in the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), Baalu said there would be no dearth of funds for the project. He said the cost is being estimated and detailed project reports have been ordered by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Under NHDP, 206 km of the Kolkata-Delhi arm of the Golden Quadrilateral passes through Bihar, so does the 500-km Silchar-Porbandar East-West Corridor. The decision to add 800 km to the four-lane category will cover national highways between key towns in Bihar, currently connected by dilapidated roads. Admitting that highways in Bihar are ‘‘in bad shape’’, Baalu said it would improve soon. Bad roads were a point of contention between the NDA Government and the state. While the state government complained of non-allocation of funds, the Centre had maintained that the state PWD, responsible for repair never requested funds. Now, with RJD a part of the ruling coalition at the Centre, roads in Bihar just might look up.

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The national highways that will be converted to four-lanes are Bakhtiarpur-Nawada (240 km), Patna-Bakhtiarpur (52 km), Patna-Muzaffarpur (67 km), Motihari-Raxaul (67 km), Forbesganj-Joghani (13 km), Gopalganj-Chapra-Hajipur (93 km), Buxar-Patna (125 km), Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi (89 km) and Mohinia-Munger (60 km). Though the work on the GQ sections is in progress, the East-West corridor from Purnea to UP’s Gorakhpur is in its early stages, the NHAI aims to finish the entire stretch by 2007.

While roads are in a state of disrepair, Bihar has the poorest record in utilising the road development funds from the Centre. Even the 100 per cent Centrally-funded Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has been substantially lapsing here. On Thursday, the state government decided to request Central government agencies to undertake the construction of such rural schemes as well.

The roadblocks for these projects lie in the fact that rarely do big companies take up work in Bihar, fearing law and order problems. ‘‘We are sure the state government will take care of the law and order questions and the projects will finish in time,’’ Baalu hopes. So does the entire state.