CCEA clears 19.282-km bridge on Brahmaputra

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved construction of a 19.282-km long four-lane bridge with approach roads, over the river Brahmaputra in the north eastern region. The Bridge is located between Dhubri on North Bank (Assam) and Phulbari on South Bank on NH-127 B in Meghalaya., FM Arun Jaitely informed that construction of the bridge will cut travel distance from 205.3 km currently to 19.282 km and save time of five hours to 20 minutes between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya. The alignment will further augment the transport network for the region by providing the shortest link between the western regions of Meghalaya as well as Barak valley region of Assam and southern states in NE such as Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura and the rest of the country, including the ports of Kolkata. In addition, the government has also approved a proposal for revised cost of project proposal titled 'ADB assisted North Eastern State Roads Investment Program (NESRIP)', a centrally sponsored scheme implemented over a period of 5 years at a revised cost of ₹2,144.56 crore from the previously cleared cost of ₹1,353.83 crore.