At a special meeting of the Cabinet on Monday, Kumar, presenting the 'Bihar Vision', said Bihar was solidly on the path of development and the government was fucussing on improving the infrastructure of the state while adopting policies that would help reduce poverty in Bihar.

The new Five-Year Plan for Bihar entails provisions for development in the field of human resources, education, agriculture, road development, power and drinking water supply, health, and industrial advancement bringing the plan total to a whopping Rs. 1,66, 953 crore, the Chief Minister said.

"The state also has made provision for nearly 70,000 new schools in Bihar with a majority of them located in rural and remote areas," he said.

For better utilization of the state's abundant water resources, the government will renew the plan to link all rivers as envisaged by the former Vajpayee government at the Center, reports said.

"To attain the goal of 8.5%annual growth rate, the state will need Rs. 108,283 crore from private investment while Rs. 58, 310 crore will be needed from public fundings," the Chief Minister said after the meeting adding the state aims to bring down the poverty level from current 44% to 22% in the next eight years.