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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the repair and reconstruction of the 5.575-km-long Mahatma Gandhi Setu (bridge) over the Ganga River in Patna.
The bridge will be constructed after dismantling the damaged pre-stressed cantilever arms superstructure and subsequent re-decking by steel truss at a cost of ₹1,742.01 crore, an official statement said.
“The project is covered in the region Patna-Hazipur connecting North and South Bihar. It will help in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in the State besides reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic particularly heavy traffic plying between North and South Bihar,” the statement added.
The four-lane Mahatma Gandhi Setu was constructed in the 1980s by the Bihar government. The bridge is an important link between North and South Bihar. The bridge forms a part of the National Highway (NH)-19.
The CCEA also approved the four laning of the Hubli-Hospet section of the NH-63 in Karnataka at a cost of ₹2,272.2 crore including the cost land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be redeveloped is 144 km.
“This work will be done under the National Highways Development Project Phase IV on an engineering, procurement and construction basis,” an official statement said.
The project was earlier approved on a Built-Operate-Transfer basis. Bids were invited for the project three times and one more time with an increased viability gap funding. However, no bids were received, the statement said.
Pact with Belgium Separately, the Cabinet approved a the signing of a protocol amending the agreement between India and Belgium for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
The Cabinet was also apprised of signing of a memorandum of understanding with Steinbeis GmbH Co. KG for Technologietransfer, Germany on technology resourcing in manufacturing including sub-sectors of capital goods. The MoU was signed on April 25 at the Hannover Messe 2016 in Germany.
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