The Central Government has taken a major decision towards improving the connectivity of North Bihar and accelerating international trade between India and Nepal. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has given final approval to the huge budget of ₹3591.31 crore for the construction of 4 lane access controlled highway from Muzaffarpur to Sonbarsa located on the India-Nepal border. This new 4 lane corridor will be developed parallel to National Highway-77 (NH-77), which will ease the movement of lakhs of people of Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Sheohar districts and drastically reduce the time taken to reach Nepal border. Cost and Technical Blueprint of the 82.4 Km Corridor Under the project, a total of 82.4 Km long stretch from Muzaffarpur to Sonbarsa will be upgraded to modern 4 lane standard. The total estimated cost of this project has been fixed at ₹3,591.31 crore. This includes widening and construction of new bypasses up to Muzaffarpur, Runnisaidpur, Sitamarhi Bypass and Sonbarsa Border Check Post. The highway will be built as a high-speed corridor with safety standards, underpasses, flyovers and service lanes under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) or EPC mode. Travel time will be reduced by up to 50 percent. Currently, it takes 3 to 4 hours to cover the distance from Muzaffarpur to Sonbarsa (Sitamarhi Border) due to heavy traffic, densely populated markets and narrow roads. After construction of the new 4 lane highway, this journey will reduce to only 1.5 to 2 hours. The vehicles will be able to operate smoothly at a speed of 100 km per hour, due to which the passengers and goods vehicles going from Muzaffarpur to Janakpur, Malangwa and Kathmandu of Nepal will get complete freedom from the jam. India-Nepal border trade and local business will get new momentum. Sonbarsa border is developing as a major Integrated Check Post (ICP) between India and Nepal. With the construction of this four-lane highway, the movement of cargo trucks going from Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata and Delhi to Nepal will become much faster. The textile, grocery and fruit markets of Muzaffarpur and the agricultural market of Sitamarhi will be directly connected to the international trade network. Development of warehousing, logistics parks and transport hubs at the local level will open new employment opportunities for the youth. Religious and tourism circuits will get a huge boost. This highway will prove to be a milestone not only from the commercial point of view but also from the religious tourism point of view. Lakhs of devotees visiting Mata Janaki's birthplace Punaura Dham (Sitamarhi) and Nepal's Janakpur Dham will get direct benefit from this 4 lane road. This project will become a very important link in the route connecting Ayodhya to Janakpur under the Ramayana Circuit, which will make the journey very easy and safe for the tourists coming from India and abroad.
