GUWAHATI, Dec 4: For commuters who frequently travel to Silchar by road from Guwahati, there is good news!
Travel time between Guwahati and Silchar via Umiam in Meghalaya will be reduced to just about four hours after completion of a project, thanks to a proposal to construct an express highway, which has been placed by the Assam government before Prime Minister Narendra Modi for consideration.
“We are working on a major project to connect Guwahati to Silchar via Barapani (Umiam) in Meghalaya which will enable travel between Guwahati and Silchar in just four hours. The project – Express Highway from Guwahati to Barapani and to Panchgram – will cost Rs 25,000 crore,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed after chairing a Cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.
“First, you can travel to Umiam from Guwahati and then directly from Umiam to Silchar. The project is being envisioned to allow people to travel to Silchar in the morning from Guwahati and to return to Guwahati from Silchar in the evening. We have proposed the project to the Prime Minister for consideration, which will help speed up the work,” Sarma, who is on a tour of the national capital, said.
The expressway project, along with a slew of other projects worth a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore, is likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Advantage Assam Summit to be held in Guwahati in February next year.
Sarma said that the state would witness a new surge in development as projects worth a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore.
The other projects include the expansion of Bongaigaon Refinery to additional 5 million MT, expansion of Namrup Fertilizer Plant at a cost of Rs.10,000 crore, the Guwahati Ring Road project, the Kaziranga Elevated Corridor, the Numaligarh-Gohpur road tunnel, a bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Morigaon and Darrang, two satellite townships at Jagiroad and Palasbari at an estimated cost of Rs.10,000 crore and a railway project connecting Guwahati to Gelephu in Bhutan.
“The series of meetings I have had with the Prime Minister and central ministers during my current visit to the national capital have yielded rich dividends with positive outcomes,” the chief minister said.
