GUWAHATI: The Assam government has unveiled a significant plan to construct a series of flyovers and bridges across the city and major towns of the state in a bid to curb the ever-increasing traffic snarls and facilitate better vehicular movement.
For the time being though, the attention, quite naturally is confined to the Gateway to the Northeast, as the capital city is known, with chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday laying the foundation of a Rs 127crore project to construct a 1.4 km-long three-arm flyover linking Dispur to Down Town Hospital (towards Khanapara) and Super Market (Dispur Last Gate) to MLA Hostel and Hatigaon.
“We have set a task of completing the project in two years and the work will begin from the Last Gate-MLA Hostel stretch taking into consideration all aspects of traffic management,” state PWD minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma said at the foundation-laying ceremony.
“In addition, about 30 per cent of the Rs 54-crore project to link the arterial RG Baruah Road to the Ganeshguri Flyover is complete after work commenced four months back. We plan to complete the entire project before Durga Puja next year,” Sarma said.
The minister informed that the process to construct a 4-km flyover linking LGBI Airport to Bhutnath via Maligaon was under way and the four-lane project will be completed in three years.
“The flyover will provide commuters from the airport and areas such as Palashbari, Mirza and Chaygaon direct access to Bhutnath as well as the Kamakhya Temple via Pandu through an alternative road. This road linking Pandu to Kamakhya temple will be completed by the end of 2020,” he said.
The PWD minister further said that the preliminary work for a Rs 2400-crore project involving environmental clearance, access to bank funds, land acquisition and allotment of contracts, to construct a bridge over the Brahmaputra river linking Guwahati and North Guwahati was almost over and that construction would start after January 15, 2020.
“Commuters from Baihata Chariali and Rangiya can reach Fancy Bazar in Guwahati within 20 minutes through this bridge,” he said.
In regard to the Brahmaputra bank facelift, Sarma said discussions were on with experts in IIT-Guwahati whether the stretch from Bharalumukh to Sukreswar Temple could be raised and aligned with the main road.
“Here, I would like to add that an elevated flyover linking Lachit Setu with Raj Bhavan and Uzan Bazar would be built for which the preliminary work will start by the end of next year,” he said.
Sarma also informed that the Centre has approved four more flyovers – at Basistha, Boragaon and Lokhra in the city and another at Baihata Chariali – and the preliminary work would commence next year.
“Besides, the process to develop traffic management in the other cities and towns of Assam has also begun with 12 flyovers proposed in places such as Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Rangapara, Barpeta Road, Sorbhog and others,” he said.