Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today inaugurated and laid foundation stones for more than 100 schemes, worth Rs 875 crore, of the state bridge construction corporation.
At a function organised here on the occasion of the 43rd establishment day of the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd, 122 schemes were inaugurated or their foundation stones laid down by the chief minister.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar expressed satisfaction over the corporation's performance over the last one decade and recalled that prior to 2005, when he first assumed power in Bihar, "this company was moribund and running into huge losses".
"It has come a long way since then and it earned a net profit of Rs 50 crore in 2017-18. Its yearly turnover has shot up from less than Rs 60 crore to more than Rs 1600 crore," he said.
Today, the government is benefitting from the company's success. It has contributed a lot to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund," Kumar said.
"It is also a matter of pride that the Nigam has spent about Rs 70 crore towards corporate social responsibility," the chief minister said.
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"Please always keep three things in mind while undertaking any project. The first is there should be no compromise on quality. Secondly, the deadlines must be met. Thirdly, after the construction is complete there should be proper maintenance, he said.
Earlier, the government had set a target to construct roads which could enable people from any district headquarter to reach Patna in not more than six hours, Kumar said.
"We now take things to a higher level so that the state capital could be reached, from all district headquarters, within five hours.
"This would obviously involve construction of lots of bridges and you have an important role to play in that," he said.
The chief minister also said that the state was likely to have many more fly-overs and elevated roads in the years to come.
The function was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and ministers Nand Kishore Yadav, Krishna Kumar Rishi and Rana Randhir Singh.