Bihar has been rated as the best State in implementing the first phase of Centre-sponsored road projects in areas affected by the Left wing extremism, a top official said on Sunday.

Under this programme, 678 km of roads has to be upgraded in the state. Bihar has completed work in 308 km by February 2012, the Secretary in Road Construction Department, Mr Pratya Amrit, said.

Work in the rest would be completed by March 2013, he said.

“Bihar has been rated as best in implementation of the first phase of the project for covering maximum length of the roads,” Mr Amrit said.

Five districts of Bihar – Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad and Jamui – have been included under the programme and the task is to upgrade 677.71 km of roads at a cost of Rs 616.335 crore.

In Jamui district bordering Jharkhand, the work has been completed, he said.

This area had been a hot spot of naxal activities in recent times. In Gaya, almost 90 per of the target has been achieved, he added. “Proposals for the second phase of the project will be ready soon for submission to the Amrit said.

Considering the good performance, the Centre has also approved building of 250 km of quality roads out of a total of 557 km along Indo-Nepal borders in the state. “While the State Government will spend Rs 2,000 crore for this, the Centre's share is of Rs 1,702 crore,” he added.

Tender for work on the 250-km stretch from Bettiah to Araria is expected to be done by June and the work in all probability would be completed by 2016, Mr Amrit said.

For the ambitious rail-cum-road bridge over river Ganga at Digha, he said six bidders out of the total of 12 have been short-listed.

“The work is expected to start on the project by June 20,” he said. The Nitish Kumar government has promised to facilitate road transport from remotest places of the State to the capital within 6 hours.

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