Emphasizing that Bihar lacked a port for shipment of goods to and from the state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the state was interested in setting up a designated port at Paradip in Orissa.

The state government was interested in buying land at Paradip to set up a port designated to cater to shipment of goods, he said in an address at the regional consultative meeting of the five states to discuss the approach paper for the 12th five-year plan.

Kumar urged the Centre and Orissa governments to help Bihar in setting up a port at Paradip.

The port will help fast-track economic activities in the eastern economic corridor from Raxaul, Bakhtiyarpur and Paradip, he said.

On the Right to Education Act, Kumar urged the Centre to bear full expenditure of the expenses being incurred on the implementation of the compulsory education for children or at least bear 90 per cent expenditure in view of scarcity of resources in the state.

The Centre should also consider universalisation of secondary education to help students of poor socio-economic background complete their education, he said.