Work on the mammoth 19 km-long Dhubri to Phulbari bridge is picking up pace, Phulbari MLA and cabinet minister Abu Taher Mondal said today.
Nearly 35 pillars have already been constructed on the Assam side. There will be nearly 197 pillars for this bridge, which is expected to be a game changer for the entire region.
Costing approximately Rs 4,997 crore, the bridge is expected to be completed by November 2028. Once finished, it will drastically reduce travel time between Dhubri and Phulbari from 6 hours to just 20-40 minutes.
Mondal acknowledged that there has been a delay from Meghalaya’s side but officials from construction company L&T have assured that it is on time as far as completion of the work is concerned.
“Once it is completed you will see major traffic towards Guwahati through this bridge because it will shorten the distance travel time and economic benefits will also be another reason for this bridge. This will be the western entry or exit from the state towards the mainland,” mentioned Mondal.
From Dhubri, it would only take another 90 minutes to reach West Bengal, he added.
The Union cabinet committee on economic affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, had approved the construction of a four-lane bridge including approaches over the Brahmaputra River between Dhubri on the north bank and Phulbari on the south bank on National Highway 127B.
The bridge is built under the scheme of North-East Road Network Connectivity Project Phase-03’ under loan assistance with JICA at the civil construction cost of Rs.3548 crore and total capital cost of Rs.4997.04 crore including the cost of Rs.55.68 crore towards the cost of land acquisition, resettlement & rehabilitation and other pre construction activities.
