Jp Ganga Path (Ganga Pathway) or Patna Marine Drive is an expressway along the

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

river in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. It is being jointly constructed by the

Housing and Urban Development Corporation The Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India in India. History This institution came into existence on 25, ...

(HUDCO) and the

Government of Bihar The Government of Bihar, known locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a ju ...

. The first phase of the expressway was open to the public on 24 June 2022.

History

It was approved in August 2007 and the ground breaking ceremony was held on 11 October 2013 by the Chief Minister of Bihar,

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unit ...

. On 24 June 2022, the first phase of the expressway expressway was inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister

The Expressway

It is a road built between Digha and Deedarganj in Patna at a cost of Rs.2234.46 crores. The second phase extends the road by 18 km to Fatuha. The Ganga Path is 6.5 km at-grade level and 14 km elevated. Ganga Path project which has been in pipeline for many years, dubbed as the Marine Drive of Patna, the Ganga Path or Ganga Expressway will connect Digha to Kacchi Dargah along the river

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. The tender for the same is likely to be issued by the second week of May by Bihar State Road Development Corporation and the contract will be finalized by June.

Cost

The total cost involved in this mega project is 5600 crore, having time interval for its completion to be four years. After the private investors failed to appear on the horizon, the State government itself decided to go ahead with the project. The Cabinet has given approval to take loan of 2000 crore from Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the rest amount of 1,160 crore is to be raised through the State resources. HUDCO has agreed to provide the loan at a floating interest rate of 10.75%, to be returned in 16 years after completion of the project. Out of the total budget, a sum of 2,770 crore will be spent on the construction of road and elevation work and 390 crore on land acquisition and utility shifting.

Decongest Patna

The expressway will ensure a smooth flow of traffic between east to west Patna, and also ease the traffic congestion at

Ashok Rajpath Ashok Rajpath is a road in Patna, the capital of Bihar. It is named after Ashoka, an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BCE to 232 BCE. It connects Patna with Patna city or Patna S ...

. There will be nine points on the expressway connected to Ashok Rajpath. It will be a toll road. The much-anticipated project will give breath to the heavily congested roads of east to west Patna. It will not only give a beautiful riverfront but will also give a boost to the economic activities of the area.

Features at a glance

*Total length : 23.04 km *Drive way : 4-Lane, 14 m;km *Drive way on land : 16 km *Footpath : 5-foot on either side of drive way *Connection to bridges: Digha Rail bridge, Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Kacchi Dargah-Bidupur Bridge *Total cost : 3,106 Crore

Patna Riverfront

It is planned as 4.5 km long riverfront along Ganges. 20 ghats were to be developed along a 2.3-km promenade with four cultural centres on the stretch of Patna riverfront. 4.5-metre wide esplanade has to stretch from Collectorate Ghat to Adalat Ghat (470m), Adalat Ghat to Gandhi Ghat (1132mt), Gandhi Ghat to Rani Ghat (384m) and — after a gap of few ghats — Bhadra Ghat to Nauzar Ghat (330m). This project is part of

National Ganga River Basin Authority National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) is a financing, planning, implementing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganges River, functioning under the Jal Shakti ministry of India. The mission of the organisation is to safeguard t ...

Status updates

* Aug 2017: 14 ghats have been completed. * June 2022 the first phase of the expressway expressway was inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister

on 24 June.

References

{{Patna Transport in Patna Memorials to Jayaprakash Narayan