With an aim to provide seamless connectivity to the North-Eastern states of the country, a proposed four-lane bridge will be built along National Highway 127-B over the Brahmaputra River. The robust 19-km long bridge will establish a vital link between Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya by reducing the distance of 250 km.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Dhubri Phulbari Bridge and performed Bhumi Pujan for construction of Majuli Bridge Assam today via video conferencing.
India’s longest bridge on River
The four-lane bridge over the Brahmaputra is the longest bridge over a river in India, spanning over more than 19km. It will meet the long-standing demand of the people of Assam and Meghalaya, who travelled by ferry which takes the travel time of up to 2.5 hours. With the mending of the distance, the bridge will also boost tourism and trade.
It will improve access to education and health-care facilities and create new employment opportunities in the two states. This passage is essential as it will provide a huge fillip to trade and commerce in the region, leading to accelerated development of all the North-Eastern states.
Need for the bridge
The bridge that will play a crucial role in connecting the two states, at present, take an over-200km-long detour using the Naranarayan bridge, which is 60 km upstream. The new bridge will complete the missing link of NH127B from Assam to Meghalaya.
Currently, small boats run between Dhubri and Phulbari. It takes about two and a half hours to cross the river. This is the reason, the bridge is aimed at reducing the distance of 205 km to 19km, which is the total length of the bridge. Once the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge becomes operational, it will hardly take 15-20 minutes to cross the river, as per government officials.
The present longest river bridge in India, at 9.15km, is the Dhola-Sadiya bridge which was opened in 2017. The need for this bridge was felt in April 2012, when a boat carrying 305 passengers had capsized on the Brahmaputra.
Key Highlights of the bridge
The bridge that originates from Srirampur on NH-27 (East-West corridor), and ends at Nongston on NH-106 in Meghalaya, will be built with a total cost of approx Rs. 4997 crore. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has bagged the contract to construct the longest river bridge. The bridge is expected to be completed by the year 2026-27.
A navigation bridge of 12.625 km approach viaducts of 3.5 km on the Dhubri side and 2.2 km on the Phulbari side, connected with approach roads and interchanges on both sides will be featured.
The Construction of the bridge has been a long demand of the people of Majuli, who for generations have been dependent on the ferry services to connect with the mainland of Assam.
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