Work on new NIT-Patna campus to begin in December

PATNA: National Institute of Technology-Patna (NIT-P) will soon set up its new campus at Bihta. The institute has recently singed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for its construction. Bihta is almost 30km from the state capital.
The new campus will be constructed in three phases on 125 acres of land allotted by the state government. For the first phase, the Centre has sanctioned Rs500 crore under funding scheme for higher education/technical institutes.
The master plan has been prepared for 6,600 students. The approved detailed project report (DPR) envisages a campus to cater to 2,415 students (BTech, MTech, MSc and PhD), 250 faculty members and 350 non-teaching staff members in the first phase, which is scheduled for completion by March 2022.
The boundary wall has been constructed recently at the allotted land and the three phases of the project is likely to be completed by 2025, said Sanjay Kumar, professor at civil engineering department of NIT-Patna.
Kumar told this newspaper that the bidding process for construction work will be initiated by mid-September. “Construction work will begin after we get the environment clearance from the Centre and complete some other paper works. It is, however, likely to begin by December-end and completed by March 2022,” he said.
The proposed campus will have five academic blocks, including School of Electrical Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, and School of Applied Science And Social Science Engineering.
The administrative block will have offices of the institute’s director, registrar, deans and other officers. Apart from offices, the administrative block will also have senate hall and meeting rooms. All the administrative functions will be performed centrally from the administrative block having approximate built-up area of around 5,000 square metres.
Kumar, who is also the nodal officer of the Bihta campus, said the academic blocks in first phase will come up at 40,980 square metres area. “We have planned more academic blocks in the second phase, including for Biotechnology Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Food Technology,” he said.
“Almost all the buildings in the first phase will be G+5. As per norms of air traffic control, we can build more than six floors,” he added.
The other utility structures to be constructed will be students activity centre for indoor games (also known as gymkhana), sports arena with two separate grounds for cricket and football, canteen-cum-café, central library and data centre, lecture hall with seating capacity of 6,000 students, three hostels, including one for girls, to accommodate 1,800 students, continuing education programme complex (seminar, symposia and conference hall), guesthouse, residential quarters, convention-cum-innovation centre and centre of excellence.
“To achieve the tag of green campus, the entire project is envisaged to secure at least 4-star rating from Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), which is the national rating system of India for any completed construction,” Kumar said and added: “For this, we make provision for sewage treatment plant, solar power plant, battery-operated eco-friendly vehicles, waste-to-energy and composting system, cycling tracks, two water bodies, green corridors and green shade walkway. The whole campus will be equipped with latest safety and security arrangements.”