India’s Longest Bridge, Built For Tanks, To Open In Assam Today

GUWAHATI:  India’s longest bridge, over nine kilometres long, will be inaugurated today in Assam by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his government completes three years in office. The bridge is among a series of infrastructure projects that PM Modi has fast-tracked since taking charge after a landslide win in 2014. Launched a decade ago under the government of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, PM Modi’s biggest challenge is to see these projects to completion without the years-long delays that have beset many key endeavours in Asia’s third largest economy.

Facts:

It about 9.2 km in length – that’s nearly 30 per cent longer that the famous Bandra-Worli Sealink in Mumbai.

Once opened, the bridge will reduce travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by up to four hours. There is no operational airport in Arunachal.

Construction began in 2011, when the Congress governed Assam. The cost of the project is about Rs. 950 crore.

So far, there is little road connectivity between Assam and Arunachal – a strategy aimed at making it difficult for military incursion from China. Currently, the only route for people looking to travel from this part of Assam to Arunachal is by boat.