Cabinet Approves Rs 4.45bn Highway to Boost Bihar’s Growth

12 Sep 2025 CW Team

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the construction of a four-lane greenfield access-controlled Mokama–Munger section of the Buxar–Bhagalpur High-Speed Corridor in Bihar on a Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM). The project covers a total length of 82.4 km, with a capital cost of Rs 4.45 billion.

The corridor will pass through or connect key regional cities including Mokama, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, Jamalpur, Munger and Bhagalpur, as indicated in the map at Annexure-I.

The Munger–Jamalpur–Bhagalpur belt in eastern Bihar is emerging as a significant industrial zone. It is home to an existing gun factory and a proposed facility as part of the Ordnance Factory Corridor by the Ministry of Defence, a locomotive workshop in Jamalpur, and food processing units such as ITC in Munger. The region is also developing logistics and warehousing hubs. Bhagalpur is positioned as a textile and logistics centre, with Bhagalpuri silk leading its growth, supported by plans for an expanded textile ecosystem. Barahiya is becoming a hub for food packaging, processing and agro-warehousing. The region’s rising economic activity is expected to increase freight movement and traffic on the Mokama–Munger section in the years ahead.

The four-lane access-controlled corridor will feature close tolling, support average vehicular speeds of 80 km/h and a design speed of 100 km/h, reducing overall travel time to approximately 1.5 hours. It will offer safer, faster and uninterrupted connectivity for both passenger and freight transport.

The project is projected to generate around 1.48 million man-days of direct employment and 1.85 million man-days of indirect employment. It will also spur additional job opportunities by driving economic activity in areas surrounding the corridor.

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