Patna, May 20 (IANS): Eight construction companies, including Gammon, Nagarjun and Reliance, have shown keenness to construct the proposed 40-km driveway along the banks of the Ganga river in Patna modelled on Mumbai's Marine Drive, officials said Sunday.

Eight companies have submitted quotations for the Rs.2,234.46 crore project, said an official of the Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd.

Bihar Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav told IANS here that the government would select the company by June.

"We hope to start construction work by next year and the project would be completed by 2016," he said.

Last year, the union finance ministry and the Planning Commission cleared the project.

In the first phase, the driveway will connect Digha and Didarganj, a stretch of 21 km, and in the second phase, it will go to Fatuha, a distance of 18 km. About seven km of the road will run on an elevated platform.

Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, had first proposed such a driveway in Patna, said a retired engineer associated with construction of the Mahatma Gandhi Setu here.