Dhubri Phulbari Bridge

Recently, the prime minister of India announced the construction of the longest road bridge across the river Brahmaputra in the northeast that stretches from Dhubri to Phulbari where Dhubri is in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya. The first stone of the beginning of the construction was placed by Narendra Modi on the 18th of February 2021 followed by bhumi pujan which is considered ad the most auspicious ceremony before the beginning of any big projects according to Hindu beliefs via video conferencing. 

This bridge aims at stretching over 19km once it is completed by a tentative time of 2026-27 across the river Brahmaputra. It will be a roadways bridge that aims at connecting Assam and Meghalaya by a direct roadway that was otherwise traveled via ferry. This usually takes about 2 to 2.5 hours of traveling from Dhurbi to Phulbri. This proposed bridge will be closer to the Bangladesh border and will connect Assam and Meghalaya that otherwise has been a missing link of the 127B national highway. The civil work has already been started from the year 2019-20. Larsen and Toubro have won the construction contract of the largest roadway bridge over the river Brahmaputra that is worth Rs. 3000 crore from the central government. The entire establishment cost is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency. It is one of the government agencies of Japan that functions in delivering the bulk Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the government of Japan. It is also associated with providing assistance with social and economic growth in developing countries along with promoting international cooperation. Thus the fund that is channelized by Japan International Cooperation Agency will be executed by NHIDCL. Other than this, there are five more bridges that are suggested by the central government to be built on the river Brahmaputra.

Larsen and Toubro on Wednesday have conformed to the presses in India that its subsidiary Larsen and Toubro construction has bagged the contract of constructing the largest roadway bridge on the river Brahmaputra. As per the company, the contract amount is as large as 25oo to 5000 crore rupees. The bridge that will be constructed by Larsen and Toubro will be 19kms in length that will be an extension joining the national highway 127-B and is referred to as Fulbari to Dhubri bridge. They also aim in featuring a navigation bridge that will be at an extend of 12.625km. This will approach Dhurbi via duct of 3.5 km and on the other side will approach Fulbari in Meghalaya via duct opening of 2.2 kms. This bridge is therefore seen as a huge strategic as well as geographical and social relevance as it will upgrade the connectivity of the Northeastern states by establishing an important link between Assam and Meghalaya and thus will reduce the distance by almost 250 km.

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Facts of Dhubri Phulbari Bridge

The demand for such a bridge to connect the Northeastern states was over 10 years now. Thus with the bridge, the lateral distance between the two places will be reduced by 203 km. in addition to the Dhubri bridge, there has been another simultaneous project of building a straight connecting road from Serampore to Assam has been proposed as declared by the Union minister of all the micro, macro and Medium enterprises, Nitin Gadkari has announced. This construction of the road will actually reduce the traveling time to Bhutan as well as Bangladesh. For the who are staying in the remote area of Munjali Island in Assam over Brahmaputra river, the 2-lane bridge is constructed connecting the Brahmaputra river between the two areas, namely, Majuli (Kamalbari) and Jorhat (Nimti ghat) that stretches up to 6.8 km. It will be constructed on a 217 K national highway that will also cost around 918 crore Indian rupees. Thus the bridge is constructed with an aim to connect education, healthcare along with day-to-day development services in Assam and Meghalaya.

Let us see some of the facts of the Dhubri Phulbari bridge as listed below:-

1. The Dhubri Phulbari Bridge is a four-lane bridge along with the Dhubri to Phulbari bridge distance is of 19km. The bridge is constructed by keeping a vertical clearance of 10.50 meters that is the height over the high tide level and a navigation length clearance is over 12.625 km so as to allow the water transport on the national waterway 2.  

2. The bridge as per the planning and the layout data provided will be completed by the year 2027-28. It would be the longest roadway bridge of India in the North-eastern region.

3. It aims at reducing the distance between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya from almost 200kms to 19kms.

4. The total estimated cost for the construction of this bridge is around 5000 crore Indian rupees.

5. The cities that would be connected through the Dubri bridge would be Tura, Dhubri, Phulbatri, Rongram and Rongjen.

6. The entire establishment cost is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency. It is one of the government agencies of Japan that functions in delivering the bulk Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the government of Japan 

Significance of Dhubri Bridge

Some of the significance of the construction of the Dhubri Bridge are ad follows:-

1. Though the demand for such a bridge in the northeastern region of India was evident from the past decade the need for this bridge was felt in the year 2012. As on the only way to cover the distance from Dhubri, Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya through waterways the boat carrying 305 passengers toppled in the water. This incident killed more than 105 people traveling on the boat.

2. With the construction of this bridge not only the northeastern region, Assam and Meghalaya would be connected but West Bengal will also be directly connected from Serampore to Assam.

3. It will save the traveling time from India to Bhutan and Bangladesh via roadways.

4. This project will enable more than 2 million people who travel via roadways from Bangladesh to Bhutan through the Dalu gateway in Meghalaya that is shared with the Bangladesh border as well.

5. In order to travel from Assam to Meghalaya via roadways, everyone has to take the route of Narayana bridge which is 60 km upstream. But with the completion of the project, it will become a cross-linkage of the National highway 127M connecting Assam and Meghalaya.

6. Once the bridge comes under-functioning there will be no need for the boats and the ferries to take the waterway.