India’s longest river bridge opens in Assam
On 26 May, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Dhola-Sadia Bridge, the country's longest river bridge built over river Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. The bridge connects the easternmost tip of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The total length of the project, including the approach roads on each side, is 28.50 km. Of this, the length of the bridge is 9.15 km. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 2,056 crore. The union government has decided to name the Dhola-Sadiya bridge after the great musician, lyricist and poet, Bhupen Hazarika.
The construction work began in 2011 and was slated to be completed by 2015. The bridge has been designed to facilitate the movement of battle tanks. It is also expected to help in the movement of troops to the border with China in the Wallong-Kibithu sector in southern Arunachal Pradesh. The three lane bridge will ensure 24x7 connectivity, and will reduce the distance from Rupai on NH-37 in Assam to Meka/Roing on NH-52 in Arunachal Pradesh by 165 km. It will reduce the travel time from six hours to one hour. The bridge will also help numerous hydro projects which will come up in Arunachal Pradesh in future.
By providing efficient road connectivity to remote and backward areas the bridge is expected to give a major boost to overall economic development of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It will also cater to the strategic requirements of the country in the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh.
Other upcoming projects in North-East:
1. India’s longest rail-road bridge
The country’s longest rail-road bridge, the fourth and easternmost bridge, Bogibeel, built across the Brahmaputra, is expected to be inaugurated by 2018. This bridge near Dibrugarh town, 4.94 km in length, will be India’s longest road-rail bridge. The cost of this national project has escalated from Rs 1,767 crore in 2002 to Rs 6,000 crore.
2. India’s longest tunnel and tallest rail bridge
The Indian railway’s longest railway tunnel and the tallest railway bridge is expected to be completed by 2020. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) started construction of this line. The project is being done in two sections - the 84 km Jiribam-Tupul and the 27 km Tupul-Imphal totalling 111 km which will pass through 45 tunnels. The tunnels will cover a total stretch of 60.2 km, making the tunnel’s length more than half of the total track length. The longest tunnel, i.e Tunnel 12 will be 11.55 km long. The world’s tallest rail bridge with a pier height of 141 mtr will be part of the two sections which will have 22 major and 142 minor bridges. The anticipated cost of the project is Rs 9,657 crore.