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• Travelling to Gaya and Dobhi would be a smooth affair for the residents of the state capital in a few years. The 127-km stretch of National Highway 83 is set to become the first hi-tech road of the state.Sensors to record speed limits, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor snarls, patrol cars to manage traffic, cranes and ambulances — all this would be a part of the highway package.National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been entrusted with the task of constructing this road. A senior NHAI officer told The Telegraph: “It would be a four-lane highway. Sensors would be fitted into the median of the road. These would provide information about the speed of vehicles. They would also record the registration number of cars.”
• The CCTV cameras would also be installed on poles along the road to provide video footage of the stretch.“There would be a control room at a gap of every 30km. These would receive data from the sensors and the CCTV cameras. All such control rooms would be interconnected with each other so that data could be shared among them,” said the official.Three patrol cars, which would also get data from the sensors, would be deployed along the stretch. Five ambulances and three cranes would wait beside the highway. The ambulances would be parked at a distance of around 25km. They would be positioned in such a way that they can reach any accident site within 10 minutes.
• The cranes would be used to remove vehicles that break down on the road, and prevent snarls or pile-ups.“In case of an accident, the priority is to attend to the injured people. Hence, the number of ambulances would be more than that of cranes,” said the official.Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an independent administrative institution, would provide the NHAI with financial assistance to the tune of 80 per cent of the total project cost of Rs 1,025 crore, through soft loans. The Centre would provide the remaining fund.The officer added that JICA had agreed to provide the loan on the pre-condition that these facilities are provided on the highway.
• He said that in addition to the cost component for patrol cars, ambulances and cranes, in accordance with the prevailing market prices at the time of actual purchase, a sum of Rs 2.5 crore would be spent for installing sensors, CCTV cameras and constructing control rooms.All the gadgets would be imported from South Korea.“According to our estimate, around Rs 10 crore would be spent annually in maintaining all the facilities, including the cost incurred on running patrol cars, ambulances and cranes,” added the official.The construction of this four-lane highway would start in December next. It is likely to be completed in 30 months.
• Inspired by the pre-condition of its associate, the NHAI has decided to incorporate same features for all those highways constructed by it in Bihar.“While finalising the details of these roads, all these features would be incorporated so that bidders have a prior idea about these things,” said the NHAI official.He added that the authority was also thinking to find out ways to incorporate the same features in roads, which have already been constructed.“Though any final decision on this front has not been taken, in all likelihood, the Centre would bear the cost of adding these features in roads which have either already been constructed or work for which has already been awarded,” added the official.

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