Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated India’s longest bridge about 9.3 km across the Brahmaputra situated in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Dhola-Sadiya Bridge is built over the river Lohit, which is a tributary of the Brahmaputra. It links Dhola in Assam to Sadiya in Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge will reduce travel time between the two states by as much as four hours, official said.
The Dhola-Sadiya bridge will be dedicated to musician and film-maker Bhupen Hazarika, capable of bearing the weight of a 60-tonne battle tank; the bridge has been built at a cost of Rs2,056 crore by the ministry of road transport and highways. It will improve the movement of civilian and military vehicles to strategic locations, all the way up to Anini in Arunachal Pradesh. Anini is about 100km from India’s border with China. It will also reduce the time it takes the armed forces to reach the border in Dibang and Anjaw. That journey currently takes about two days.
Modi said Dhola-Sadiya bridge is not only connecting Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, but also bringing them together. “The bridge will open gates for economic growth in the region and bring economic revolution. We are confident that Eastern and North Eastern India has great aptitude to take nation to new heights,” added PM.
