In its first public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, the road construction department (RCD) of Bihar will be building a 5.5 km bridge over the river Ganga connecting Bakhtiyarpur with Samastipur. The project worth Rs 1,400 crore is expected to start in May this year.

“This project will break a long standing myth that the state is not suitable for investment of any kind,” Bihar RCD Secretary Pratayaya Amrit told Governance Now on telephone.

Not long ago, Bihar was a pariah for private investors. The scourge of corruption and nepotism combined with a free rein for criminals ensured the private investment in the state was zilch.

Five years after the Lalu-Rabri regime ended, and the Nitish Kumar government restored some semblance of governance in the state, the investments are starting to come.

The RCD, under Amrit's leadership, has the distinction of building 339 bridges across the state in a record span of three years, earning the erstwhile defunct Bihar State Bridges Corporation Rs 80 crore for 2008-09.

For the Ganga bridge project, eight leading companies have submitted the request for qualification (RSQ), and seven of them have been shortlisted by the RCD.

“The companies have been asked to submit the request for proposal (RFP), in which they will quote their rates. After we study their proposals, we will take the final decisions by May 14,” said Amrit.

The deal, once clinched, will be a major achievement for the RCD. Earlier, such initiatives never crossed the RSQ stage.

In states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, 80% of bridge consturction projects are undertaken in the PPP mode. However private investors always gave Bihar the short shrift owing to the perceived lack of governance earlier.

“A beginning has been made,” Amrit said.