New Delhi (NVI): The government of Japan today joined in felicitation of the foundation laying ceremony of Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge, a 19-km long bridge that will connect Assam and Meghalaya over the Brahmaputra River, making it the longest of all river bridges in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal were among other dignitaries present at the foundation laying ceremony.
The Dhubri-Phulhari bridge is provided with financial support by Japan, amounting to JPY (Japanese Yen) 25,483 million (approximately INR 1,573 crore), as “North East Road Connectivity Improvement Project – Phase 3 (l)”, the Embassy of Japan said in a statement.
Once the bridge is completed, traveling time between Dhubri and Phulhari will become dramatically shorter, it said. While the existing land route requires more than 8 hours, and even the ferry route requires about 2.5 hours, people will be able to make this trip with only 23 minutes of travel time, it said.
This bridge will also provide a “flood-free route” as an alternative to the existing ferry route, which can become unstable and dangerous in the monsoon season, therefore providing resilience to the connectivity of the Region. This will be in line with the concept of “Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure”.
Also present on this occasion, Satoshi Suzuki, ambassador of Japan to India, said, “It is my great honour to congratulate the Foundation Laying Ceremony of the prestigious Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge project, together with Honourable Prime Minister Modi. I am proud that Japan is able to make contributions to such an important project. The North East of India is situated where India’s ‘Act East Policy’ and Japan’s vision of a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ converge.
“Japan has been supporting development in the North East of India through the ‘Act East Forum’, which I and Shringla, Foreign Secretary co-chair, and has been a strong proponent of projects, including road connectivity improvement, water supply and wastewater treatment, forest management, providing facilities for education and medicine, as well as technical assistance for sustainable mountainous road development,” he said.
“The Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge will connect the North East with West Bengal and other parts of India, as well as with Bhutan and Bangladesh, and provide a route to the Bay of Bengal for the North East. Transforming road connectivity landscape significantly and dramatically, this bridge will be a big ‘game changer’ for North East to enhance the flow of goods and
people.
“This demonstrates the spirit of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. More importantly, the Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge symbolizes the friendship between Japan and India and, in particular, the cooperative relationship that Japan and India will have in the North East of India in the future,” he added.
-ARK
