Centre to spend Rs 44,950 crore in Bihar under Bharatmala road project: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said the Centre will spend Rs 44,950 crore in 2023-24 in Bihar under Bharatmala, a centrally funded project which aims to build a network of roads, highways and expressways across India.

Prasad, a former union minister, told a press conference that the Centre has also allocated huge funds for the development of roads and highways in Bihar, besides Bharatmala.

The Bharatmala project will connect over 550 districts headquarters of India through six-lane highways. In addition to the development of the highways and roads, a key objective of the project is to improve freight efficiency through highways.

Besides, the National Highways Authority of Indias ambitious six-lane Greenfield Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata expressway will pass through Kaimur, Rohtash, Aurangabad and Gaya districts of Bihar. Of the 610-km-long Varanasi-Kolkata corridor, 162 km will be in Bihar, Prasad said.

The central government has also decided to construct a Rs 1,000 crore 15-km-long elevated road from Anisabad to Gurudwara Mode on NH-30 in Patna, he said.

Currently 13 bridges are being constructed in several districts in Bihar and the central government has allocated Rs 23,175 crore for these works. Besides, works for the development of the first multi-modal logistic park on 100 acres of land at Fatuha (in Patna) are already on. The Centre has also made provisions for Rs 1,000 crore for the project, Prasad said.

The government has also sanctioned funds for several other sectors, including agriculture, tourism, fisheries, science and technology and rural development, the BJP leader said.

He described the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as all-inclusive and far-sighted.

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