Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the Dhola-Sadia Bridge, the country's longest river bridge, over the Lohit in the eastern most tip of Assam connecting Arunachal Pradesh, and named it after Bhupen Hazarika
After inaugurating the Rs 2,056 crore strategic bridge at Sadia in Assam's Tinsukia district, Modi walked a short distance over it.
A vehicle carrying the prime minister, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal and other senior government officials then passed over it.
Later, addressing a rally, Prime Minister Modi said that the bridge you had been waiting for years would have got 10 years ago, if Atal ji's government were re-elected in 2004.
"In 2003, one of our MLAs Jagdish Bhuyan wrote to Vajpayee ji requesting for such a bridge and he approved. Then soon government changed and the work on the bridge kept on getting delayed," Modi said.
Stating that the bridge was not just a reason of Assam's pride but that of the entire country, Modi said, "This bridge will now be known by the name of Bhupen Hazarika."
"Within one year of BJP rule in Assam, the state got rid of a lot of problems. This region can play a huge role in connecting India to South East Asia," Modi added.
The Prime Minister also said that the government was working to make this region a hub of economic activity.
Modi had also urged the crowd to take out their mobile phones and turn on the flashlight and send the signal of how big a festival this is.
This new, three lane, 9.15 kilometre bridge has been built at a cost of about Rs 2,056 crore over river Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra.
The bridge will also reduce the distance from Rupai on NH-37 in Assam to Meka/Roing on NH-52 in Arunachal Pradesh by 165 KM.
The travel time between the two places will come down from the current six hours to just one hour. This will result in saving of petrol and diesel worth Rs 10 lakh per day.
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This bridge will also give a major boost to overall economic development of the areas north of Brahmaputra in upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The government said it will also cater to the strategic requirements of the country in the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh, besides facilitating numerous hydro power projects coming up in the state, as it is the most sought-after route for various power project developers.
It has been constructed on BOT (build, operate, transfer) annuity basis at a total cost of Rs 2,056 crore, as part of the Arunachal Package of Roads and Highways under the Ministry's Special Accelerated Road Develoopment Programme for North East (SARDP-NE).
