Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw speaks during a press briefing after a cabinet meeting in New Delhi on September 10, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Government on Wednesday (September 10, 2025) approved construction of the 4-lane Mokama-Munger section of the Buxar-Bhagalpur high speed corridor in Bihar with total cost of ₹4,447.38 crore.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the project will be completed in the next three years.
The Mokama-Munger section (82.4 km) will be constructed on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters.
Project Alignment Map for Mokama-Munger provided by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Photo: pib.gov.in
The section passes through or provides connectivity to important regional cities such as Mokama, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, Jamalpur, Munger connecting to Bhagalpur.
According to an official statement, the Munger–Jamalpur-Bhagalpur belt in Eastern Bihar is emerging as a key industrial region focusing on ordinance factory, locomotive workshop (in Jamalpur), food processing (e.g., ITC in Munger) and related logistics & warehousing hubs.
Bhagalpur stands out as a textile and logistics hub, led by Bhagalpuri silk, and Barahiya is emerging as a region for food packaging, processing and agro-warehousing.
“The increased economic activity in the region is expected to drive up the freight movement and the traffic on the Mokama-Munger section in the future,” the statement said.
The 4-lane access-controlled corridor with close tolling, supporting average vehicular speed of 80 km/hour with design speed of 100 km/hour will reduce the overall travel time to 1.5 hours, while offering safer, faster, and uninterrupted connectivity for both passenger and freight vehicles.
The proposed project will generate about ₹14.83 lakh man-days of direct employment and 18.46 lakh man-days of indirect employment.
The project will also induce additional employment opportunities due to increase in economic activity in the vicinity of the proposed corridor, it said.
“While the construction of a 4-lane section will help reduce the commute time to 1.5 hours, it will also give a boost to the industries along the corridor which includes Mokama, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, Jamalpur, Munger and Bhagalpur, adding to the employment, growth and development of the region,” Minister for Road Construction Department of Bihar Nitin Nabin said.
Published – September 10, 2025 06:01 pm IST
