GUWAHATI: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently approved the construction of the proposed Dhubri-Phulbari bridge between Assam’s Dhubri and Meghalaya’s Phulbari. The bridge once completed will replace the 9.15 Km-long Bhupen Hazarika Setu (Dhola Sadiya bridge) as India's longest road bridge.
The proposed four-lane bridge to be built under the scheme of North-East Road Network Connectivity Project Phase-03 will be 19.282 km long. While the civil construction cost of the project is Rs 3,548 crore, its total capital cost is Rs 4,997.04 crore.
Out of the total amount, Rs 55.68 crore will be towards the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities.
The construction is expected to be complete within six years after which it’ll reduce travel distance between Dhubri and Phulbari from 205.3 Km to only 19.282 km. Additionally, the bridge once complete and open to traffic will cut traffic time from five hours to 20 minutes between Dhubri and Phulbari.