Developers, investors queuing up to make the most of the growth story in Bihar

Vyom

Seeker
Senior Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
1,041
Likes
329


NEW DELHI: Eight years ago, the headline story from Bihar was the gruesome murder of IIT-Kanpur engineer Satyendra Dubey, who blew the whistle on corruption in road projects.

Today, the same state is attracting private funds in the same sector, a complete turnaround after six years of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's rule.

These investments are even more remarkable because two of these projects will be toll roads, where the operator has to be confident of his ability to collect toll, a confidence that was lacking during Lalu Yadav-led RJD's 15-year reign.

That's not all. Officials of the Bihar State Road Development Corporation now keep tabs on how projects are progressing using smartphones running Google's Android OS, from their offices in district headquarters. Bihar is the first state in India to put mobile technology to this use.

Of the two private road projects, the first is a Rs 1,602-crore project to build a 5.5-km bridge across the river Ganga, connecting Bakhtiyarpur with Shahpur along with a four-lane 45.5 km approach road. The second is a Rs 917-crore project to widen the twolane road between Ara and Mohania into a four-lane one.

"These two projects will substantially improve connectivity in the state," Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told ET.

"Bihar isn't what it used to be," said Ullhas N Bhole, vicepresident, Atlanta Infrastructure, which has bagged the Ara-Mohania project.

Bihar has constructed 23,606 km of roads since 2006-07, apart from augmenting and repairing 1,657 km of national highways. All these projects involved annuity payments because private builders were not ready to build toll roads, fearing they wouldn't be able to collect fees from users. "The law and order situation is good and we do not see any problems in collecting toll," said Bhole.

"The Public-Private Partnership Approval Committee under the finance ministry has given its nod to the Ganga project," a finance ministry official said. The project had to be approved by the finance ministry as it needed some viability gap funds from the Centre.

North Block will cough up Rs 277 crore for the Ganga bridge project. The request for quotation floated by the Bihar State Road Development Corp had received just four proposals in 2008. But this time, 16 private companies were willing to take up the project.

Data from the Central Statistical Organisation shows Bihar's GDP grew by 11.03% between 2004-05 and 2008-09. The state announced a new industrial policy and has decided to restructure the state electricity board. Under Kumar's administration, investors are queuing up to make the most of the growth story that's being scripted through better governance and law and order.

"There is a lot of investor interest in projects. The plan is to ensure that Patna, the state capital, can be reached in not more than six hours by road from any place in Bihar," said state road construction Secretary Pratyaya Amrit.

Developers are confident of being able to collect tolls and Bhole said lenders are excited about the project and more than willing to arrange the funds. The Ganga bridge project, being built by the Navyuga Group of Hyderabad, has achieved financial closure.

The massive effort to build and improve roads is reckoned to be one of the main reasons behind the landslide victory of the JD(U)-BJP coalition in last year's assembly elections. The improvement in law and order has helped restore business confidence in the state.

So far, most investments have come from state funds. In the current fiscal too, the state plans to spend Rs 3,550 crore on road development.

Between 2003 and 2008, the length of roads has grown at an annual clip of 8.8%, more than double the national average of 4.1%.

Fertiliser major Indian Potash has decided to build a Rs 300-crore sugar plant in Muzaffarpur district and cigarettes-tohotels conglomerate ITC has set up a dairy project in Munger. Nearly 30 food processing units, including three biscuit units of Britannia, Parley and Anmol, are ready to begin production.

The state has unveiled a new policy, 'Aao Bihar' (Come to Bihar), to make sure businesses do not run into land issues.

Developers, investors queuing up to make the most of the growth story in Bihar
 

civfanatic

Retired
Ambassador
Joined
Sep 8, 2009
Messages
4,562
Likes
2,570
Good to see the Cow Belt starting to develop. Its about time they hold India up, rather than drag the rest down.
 

Rahul Singh

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
3,652
Likes
5,790
Country flag
In simple capitalist term, If Bihar develops then cities like Nagpur, Ahmadnagar, Mumbai, Bangalore and like will cease developing.

More development --> less unemployment --> less migration --> no more cheap labor --> less outsourcing in manufacturing --> less industrial setup --> slow to still development.

Now i wonder if Bihar is dragging rest down or catapulting them up?
 

Dovah

Untermensch
Senior Member
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
5,614
Likes
6,793
Country flag
^^Hmm...What if Bihar starts providing Skilled labor in lieu of Cheap labor???
.
 

Rahul Singh

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
3,652
Likes
5,790
Country flag
Skilled labor also means bigger pay cheque --> higher production cost --> less profit --> less investment --> less development.

I think it does already. Bangalore IT industry has a percentage of Bihari IT professionals.
 
Last edited:

amitkriit

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
2,463
Likes
1,927
I recently visited Buxar and Patna districts in Bihar, occasion was setting up of a station for helping the farmers in getting weather data. Changes I saw were amazing, everyone in Bihar is thinking in a single direction: Development and Education. People are ready to accept new ideas and technology. I talked to a few farmers and they were quite enthusiastic about the prospect of setting up agro-based industries and the usage of solar power.

U don't often see such changes in such a small duration. Another surprise was the excellent road network, which goes deep inside the remote villages, crime rate no longer bothers people, and people are quite aware of the situations in the state, nation and world thanks to the penetration of IT.

Thanks to reverse brain drain, property prices in Patna and other cities have shot up. A real miracle is happening in Bihar.

I am not at all worried about Bihar, I am worried about the Bhayya-bashers in South and South-West, who will soon start complaining about North-South discrimination once the Northern areas start to develop.
 
Last edited:

The Messiah

Bow Before Me!
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Messages
10,809
Likes
4,619
Nitish kumar has been the best cm for bihar by quite a distance.
 

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top