New Delhi, Dec 18 (IANS): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Monday approved construction of new 5.634-meter-long four-lane bridge across river Ganga at a cost of Rs 2,926.42 crore.

The construction period for the project is three-and-half years and it is likely to be completed by January 2023.

Talking to reporters here, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the mega project will be 14.5-km long and pass through Patna, Saran and Vaishali districts of Bihar.

The project includes 5,634-meter-long major bridge parallel to the existing old Mhatma Gandhi Setu, four Vehicular Underpasses (VUPs), one Rail Over Bridge (RoB), 1,580-meter-long viaduct, 110-meter-long flyover, four minor bridges, five bus shelters and 13 road junctions.

He said the bridge is required due to increase in traffic on the existing bridge and will together lead to eight-lane movement of traffic.

Prasad said there are only 13 bridges on the river Ganges between Allahabad and Farakka before May 2014 and an additional 20 bridges have been planned/ constructed or under construction in the above stretch over the last four-and-half years.

"Out of these 20 additional bridges, five bridges have already been opened to traffic and construction work on seven bridges is in progress," he said.