Underwater tunnel in Brahmaputra River gets approval

The Central government has given in-principle approval for the construction of an underwater tunnel in the Brahmaputra river in Assam as it will be of strategic importance for the connectivity between the North-Eastern states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The road tunnel will be constructed with the state of the art technique which will help the vehicles to operate at a speed of 80-kmph. The tunnel will connect Gohpur (NH-54) with Numaligarh (NH-37) in Assam and the construction work is expected to start in December this year. The tunnel will be constructed in three phases and its total length will be 14.85 km with four lanes. The heavy military vehicles and other machinery will be transported easily through this tunnel and will save time for reaching Arunachal Pradesh which shares an international border with China. The tunnel will be longer than the underwater tunnel being built by China below the Taihu Lake in Jiangsu province. The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHAIDCL) roped in US firm Louis Berger which also prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same. The underwater tunnel built by China below the Taihu Lake is 10.79-km long. The tunnel which will be constructed under the river will have two different capsules (Tube) for seamless movement of traffic from both the sides. Special attention will be taken for stopping water leakages that normally happen in tunnels and it will also have a ventilation system for the flow of fresh air. Security features that the tunnel will have include emergency exit, drainage system and crash barrier system.