GUWAHATI: The Assam public works department has set August 2023 as the deadline for completing the six-lane bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting the city with various towns of North Guwahati.
Work on the project constructed at a cost of Rs 2608 crore with assistance from New Development Bank, began on Sunday after the bhumi pujan ceremony near Sonaram HS School playground at Bharalumukh on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the 1600 metre-long bridge on February 9, 2019.
Addressing the programme on the occasion, Assam PWD and finance minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the bridge would play a significant part in the development of the State Capital Area Region development and expansion of the Guwahati Metropolitan area to the north bank of the Brahmaputra.
“Apart from reducing traffic congestion, the six-lane bridge would reduce travel time from south to north bank of the river considerably. For instance, commuters from Fancy Bazar here can reach Changsari, where the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is coming up, in as less as seven minutes,” Sarma said.
On an average, travel time from the south to the north bank of the Brahmaputra would be reduced from an hour and a half to less than half an hour once the bridge is opened for commuters.
“We are looking at the completing this project, which is by far the biggest the PWD has undertaken till date, within August 2023. The significant aspect is that the project has technical and bureaucratic clearances and therefore we believe that the bridge would be completed during the time-frame,” Sarma said.
The project corridor will begin from Bharalumukh on the south bank here and end at National Highway-31 near Gauripur junction on the north bank. There will be a 1450-metre long three-lane elevated road running along the river bank on the southern side.