The authorities on Wednesday announced it is expected that vehicular movement will soon commence on Gorakhpur-Siliguri Expressway and the construction work is expected to be completed in the next few months. The expressway, which is 568 kilometers long, will connect Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to Siliguri of West Bengal by traversing through several districts of Bihar. The construction of the expressway is expected to cost the Government of India Rs 37000 crore and will benefit lakhs of people across districts as it will drastically reduce travel time and traffic congestion.
In an advisory, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) announced that the much-claimed expressway will traverse a total of eight districts in Bihar: West Champaran, East Champaran, Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Supaul, Araria, and Kishanganj.
It stated that the majority portion of the expressway will transit Bihar and will enhance the road connectivity, and the economic activities in these areas because transportation will be more viable between Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal in moving goods and products to and from multiple significant cities.
The authority mentioned that 73 per cent of the expressway will traverse Bihar and that the expressway will link several cities of Bihar to Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It also mentioned that Bihar is likely to gain enormous benefit from the construction of the expressway. The officials added that the people living in these districts are expected to get access to the expressway by the end of this year.
Last month, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of Bihar stated that the state government was also working on several key infrastructure projects to provide relief to the state’s residents. While taking aim at RJD, Nitish remarked that there has been rapid infrastructure growth in Bihar since 2005, saying that the former government did nothing for the people.