Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that the Ministry is going to invest close to Rs25,000 crore in next two to three years time in Assam for development of National Highways (NHs) in Assam.
The Minister who was in Assam on Saturday also laid the foundation stone of two bridges connecting Sivasagar and North lakhimpur via Desangmukh, Dhakhukhana and another one connecting Jorhat and North lakhimpur via Majuli.
However, little after the Union Minister laid the foundation stones, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the Union Minister, however, laid the foundation stone of the two bridges without even preparing the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for both.
“We have given prime focus in developing road and water infrastructure in the northeast and Assam. For this, the Centre through NHAI, PWD and NHIDCl will invest about Rs25,000 crore in Assan over next two to three years,” Gadkari said while addressing a press conference at Guwahati and added that the two new highways from Sivasagar to North lakhimpur via Disangmukh and from Jorhat to North lakhimpur via Majuli will also be built. The total length of the projects will be 122 km and they will also have two major bridges over Brahmaputra River.
Besides this, Gadkari said, a total of 624 km of roads will be added to the National Highway in Assam. “Along with this, the preparation of DPR is in progress for the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge across Brahmaputra and the estimated cost for this will be Rs3,000 crore,” he said adding that 66 more road projects are currently going on with a total length of 1,378 km and a combined investment of Rs14,700 crore.
Gadkari also announced that 11 rivers in Assam will be announced as national waterways, which include the rivers like Aai, Brahmaputra, Beki, Dihing, Dhansiri, Dikhow, Doyang, Gangadhar, Puthimari and Subansiri. “Development of the waterways will reduce the transportation cost for goods and this will impact positively on the economy,” said the Union Minister.
Meanwhile, coming down heavily on the Union Minister’s laying of the foundation stones, the Assam Chief Minister said that the foundation stone laying exposes the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre and that it is out to hoodwink people with an eye on the upcoming Assembly election.
“I have never seen a Central Government like the present one of going out with foundation stone laying spree without preparing the DPRs. How come the project cost for the two massive bridges across the Brahmaputra could be estimated without preparing the DPRs that include feasibility report,” Gogoi said in a statement.
The CM said that though the Central Ministers, including the PM have made over 200 trips to Assam in the past 19 months, nothing concrete has emerged so far. “The Central Ministers, including PM Narendra Modi have been making a beeline to the State trying to give one the impression that the present dispensation at the Centre has a soft corner towards Assam and the North East Region as a whole,” Gogoi said.