NEW DELHI: Cabinet on Wednesday approved two major infrastructure projects in poll-bound Bihar with a cumulative investment of Rs 7,616 crore. While the greenfield four-lane Mokama-Munger highway (82.4 km) will cost Rs 4,447 crore, the doubling of Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat (117 route km) will entail an investment of Rs 3,169 crore.Announcing the decisions, I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said access-controlled highway will improve connectivity and will be a boost to economic activities. As per govt, Mokama-Munger highway project section passes through and provides connectivity to regional cities Mokama, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, Jamalpur, Munger linking to Bhagalpur.The four-lane access-controlled corridor with close tolling, supporting average vehicular speeds of 80-kmph with design speed of 100-kmph will reduce the overall travel time to approximately 1.5 hours, while offering safer, faster and uninterrupted connectivity for both passenger and freight vehicles,” an official statement said on the Mokama-Munger highway project.The Munger-Jamalpur-Bhagalpur belt in eastern Bihar is emerging as a key industrial region focusing on ordinance factory (existing gun factory and one more proposed as part of Ordnance Factory Corridor by the defence ministry), locomotive workshop (in Jamalpur), food processing (ITC in Munger) and related logistics and warehousing hubs.PM Modi said, “We are committed to further accelerate the economic development of the state with the expansion of connectivity.” He is scheduled to visit Bihar on Monday.As far as doubling of Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat section in Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal is concerned, govt said the enhanced line capacity will improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Railways.
