PATNA: Asserting that the NDA "believes in work", Bihar's Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav on Friday said of the 41 big river bridges in the state, 25 have been constructed during the NDA's 15-year rule while 16 were built between 1947 and 2005 in the eastern state.
Only 16 major river bridges were constructed over rivers such as the Ganga, Gandak, Kosi, Sone, Baghmati and the Phalgu in the 1947-2005 period, the minister told reporters here.
The NDA government will take up the construction of another 21 bridges, the minister said.
"While 14 bridges are under construction, the tender process for building two bridges has been completed. It has also been proposed to build another five in the state," Yadav said.
Drawing a comparison between the work done under NDAs 15-year rule (2005-2020) and the RJD which was in the seat of power for 15 years till 2005, he said, the performance of both the governments is "before the people" to see.
Yadav, a senior state BJP leader, was talking to reporters at the newly inaugurated 'Media Byte Centre' at the party's state headquarters here.
According to the minister, while the length of intermediate lanes in Bihar was 1,705 km till 2005, it has been increased to 5,654 km during NDA rule.
Similarly 15 years ago, the length of seven metre wide double-lane state highway was 107 km which has been increased to 4,429 km by the NDA government.
Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package for Bihar, the minister said that Rs 54,700 crore was earmarked for roads and bridges on which work is currently underway.
Yadav said that the central and state governments have allotted Rs 2,672 crore in the past three years for constructing a road network of 1,636 km and 75 bridges in five extremist-hit districts of the state.