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Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has announced approval for a 126-km Marine Drive along the Ganga, starting from Koilwar on the Son river, at an estimated investment of INR 70,000 crore. The state government will contribute INR 20,000 crore, with private entities expected to invest the remaining INR 50,000 crore. The project builds on Patna's existing 21-km Marine Drive, or J P Ganga Path, completed in 2025, and follows an earlier set of three riverfront corridors sanctioned along the Ganga at a combined cost of INR 17,000 crore.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has announced that the state government has approved the construction of a 126-km Marine Drive along the Ganga, at an estimated investment of INR 70,000 crore, marking one of the largest infrastructure proposals undertaken by the state to date. Speaking during an event, Choudhary said the project would begin from Koilwar on the Son river and extend along the entire stretch of the Ganga within the state.
According to Choudhary, the Bihar government will contribute INR 20,000 crore toward the project, while private entities are expected to invest the remaining INR 50,000 crore and generate employment opportunities in the process. He said the initiative formed part of the state's broader push to open up new avenues across infrastructure and employment.
The proposed corridor builds directly on the success of Patna's existing Marine Drive, formally known as the J P Ganga Path or Loknayak Ganga Path, a roughly 21-km riverfront expressway that was initiated by former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2013 and completed in 2025 at a cost of approximately INR 6,000 crore, funded entirely through the state's own resources. Choudhary referenced the Patna stretch as inspiration for the expanded corridor, drawing a comparison with Mumbai's Marine Drive, which was built in 1970, and noting that Bihar's own version had taken over a decade to complete before reaching its current form.
The newly announced 126-km corridor adds to a set of three riverfront road projects the state had earlier sanctioned along the Ganga at a combined cost of around INR 17,000 crore. These include the 35.65-km Digha-Sherpur-Bihta-Koilwar corridor, estimated at INR 6,495.79 crore; the 41.33-km Sultanganj-Bhagalpur-Sabour route, estimated at INR 4,849.83 crore; and the 42-km Munger (Safiabad)-Bariyarpur-Ghorghat-Sultanganj stretch, estimated at INR 5,119.80 crore. State Road Construction Minister Nitin Nabin had earlier said tendering for all three projects had been completed, and that the roughly 84-km Munger-Bhagalpur network, once finished, would function as a ring road for both cities while easing urban congestion and cutting travel times across north Bihar.
The newly announced 126-km Marine Drive appears intended to consolidate and extend this earlier riverfront network into a single, continuous corridor running along the Ganga, with the government citing improved inter-district connectivity, reduced logistics costs and support for construction, real estate and tourism-linked economic activity as key objectives. Officials have pointed to the potential for the corridor to be developed with ghats, promenades and public spaces alongside the roadway itself, mirroring elements of the original Patna riverfront project, which included the development of multiple ghats and cultural centres along its length.
The scale of investment envisaged for the project, with private capital expected to fund the larger share, marks a departure from the state-funded model used for the original Patna Marine Drive, and reflects Bihar's broader effort to draw private investment into large infrastructure corridors as it continues to expand road connectivity along the Ganga basin, an area that has historically presented significant terrain and land-acquisition challenges for large-scale construction.
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