The Bihar Roads Department’s interim report has revealed that over 2,000 km of roads have either been completely washed off or badly damaged and the state will have to cough up about Rs 2,200 crore to repair them. Approximately, 1,900 km of roads would have to be re-constructed.

“The damage is extensive and will be properly assessed once the waters recede. Rough estimates show the cost of repair and restoration could ride up to Rs 2,200 crore if we take an average of a crore per km of damaged stretches. A more conservative assessment also shows that a minimum of Rs 500 crore will be needed for temporary restoration of roads including the National Highways, state highways and major district roads,” said Kishore Ranjan Sinha, Engineer in Chief, Bihar Roads Department.

The report says over 340 km of NH running through the state have incurred heavy damage. “There have been several breaches. Temporary restoration alone would cost Rs 109 crore. Repairing the approximately 1,600 km of state roads would cost another Rs 400 crore. We would also need to build six pontoon and Bailey bridges along state roads and another four Bailey bridges on NHs. We are inviting experts from Kolkata to help us with the bridges,” added Sinha.

Supaul, Madhepura, Purnea, Khagaria, Bhagalpur and Araria are the worst affected districts. NH-106 and NH-107 running through Madhepura along with NH-107 in Khagaria have incurred heavy damage.

A senior official from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said the road situation was grim in the state.

“Almost all highways have been affected by the floods. Thirty kilometres of NH-57, which is a crucial link along the Indo-Nepal border between Forbesganj and Purnea, is inundated. Aerial surveys have been attempted but repair work cannot start as the water is flowing at considerable velocity,” said the official.

“While floods do happen in Bihar every year, this time it was shocking because the Kosi, for the first time, changed its course to the eastern side. We had recently widened an 80-km stretch on NH-57 to four lane, but now there is considerable damage to approximately 30 km of the road,” NHAI engineer Vijay Shankar, holding fort at his Araria office, told The Indian Express.

The ambitious East-West Corridor project on NH-57 set to connect Gujarat and Assam will be delayed due to the floods. The October 2008 deadline may now be pushed back to well beyond March 2009.

Flood loss

•346 km of NH-106, 107, 30 A, 57 damaged

• 600 km of state highway, major district roads

• 1900 km may require re-construction

• 136 km on NH 106, 100 km on NH 107, 30 km on NH-30A, 30 km on NH-57 among others are badly hit