Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Dhubri-Phulbari bridge estimated to be over Rs 4000 crore over the Brahmaputra, which will be India’s longest road bridge, through video conference on February 18.
The length of the river bridge will be about 18 km.
The Dhubri-Phulbari bridge will link Dhubri, the district town in Assam located at the north bank of river Brahmaputra, with Phulbari, a small township, partly in Assam and mostly in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya.
The bridge, to be located 11 km away from the international border with Bangladesh, will cut a travel time from over four to five hours of tough and pathetic journey on boats to just an hour.
The river bridge will be constructed on national highway 127B.
Currently, small boats and ferries are being used to transport people over the Brahmaputra.
NH 127B is a national highway stretching about 371 km starting from Srirampur in Assam and terminating at Nongstoin in Meghalaya.
The section crossing river Brahmaputra is a missing link on the route.
Japanese funding agency – Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – has approved a loan for the construction of the bridge while the National Highways and Industrial Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) is looking after the entire work.
Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) at Rs 3,166 crore to construct the 4-lane bridge across the Brahmaputra, the country’s longest road bridge to be built over the river.
