Patna, May 14 (IANS): Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Saturday virtually inaugurated the 1.5 km three-lane downstream of Koilwar bridge on Sone river in Bihar.

The bridge has been built parallel to the old rail-cum-road Abdul Bari bridge, which was built during the British era. The new bridge will give hussle-free driving experience to the commuters from Patna and other parts of southern Bihar.

The bridge will directly connect Arrah with Buxar, Mohania in Kaimur, Sasaram in Rohtas district and Chapra. The upstream three lanes of this bridge were opened for public earlier.

Gadkari said that the four-lane road between Koilwar and Buxar will be built in October this year, which will ease the connectivity between Patna and Delhi through the Purvanchal Expressway.

Gadkari also said that the Central government has allocated Rs 3 lakh crore for different national highways, expressways and green-field road projects. Rs 1 lakh crore has been allocated only for the eight green-field expressways.

He said the construction of the Arrah-Mohania four-lane highway is also in its last phase and it will be completed soon, boosting the connectivity between Patna and Varanasi and further to Delhi and Kolkata.

Meanwhile, the inauguration of the downstream of Koilwar bridge triggered a political row between the BJP and the JD-U, as the saffron party neither invited Nitish Kumar for the event, nor did the invitation card published for the programme have the Chief Minister's photograph.

However, Road Construction Minister Nitin Nabin of the BJP clarified that Nitish Kumar was not available for the event, hence his name and photograph were not printed on the invitation card.