- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 26, 2017, inaugurated the Dhola-Sadiya Bridge in Assam, which is India’s longest river bridge.
Things to know about the bridge:
- Spanning 9.15 km, the Dhola-Sadiya bridge is on the Lohit River which is a tributary of the Brahmaputra river.
- It will connect Assam and eastern Arunachal Pradesh.
- The total length of the Dhola-Sadiya bridge project, including the approach roads on each side, is 28.50 km.
- The Dhola-Sadiya bridge is located 540 km from Assam’s capital Dispur and 300 km from Arunachal’s capital Itanagar.
- It connects Sadia town in Assam’s Tinsukia district with Dhola village in Arunachal Pradesh across the river.
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- The bridge will reduce travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from six hours to just one hour as the distance will shrink by 165 km.
- It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, thereby making the sea link the second longest river bridge in the country.
- The construction of the bridge began in 2011 under the Ministry of Road Transport along with a private infrastructure company, Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd, under the public-private-partnership agreement.
- A sum of ₹ Rs 2,056 crore has been spent on the bridge that can withstand 60 tons of weight, including military battle tanks.
- The bridge, which has a three-lane carriage way, will also cater to the strategic requirements of the country in the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh, besides facilitating numerous hydro power projects coming up in the state, as it is the most sought-after route for various power project developers.
- The Dhola-Sadiya bridge will also make it much easier for Army convoys to reach outposts near the China border.
- It is also expected to boost tourism as there is no civilian airport in Arunachal Pradesh and this will make the road transport smoother.
- The bridge will also increase industrial investments with better border trade between Northeast and South Asian countries.
- Besides, the bridge is believed to support defense requirements, particularly along the India-China border.
- State-run SAIL is the largest supplier of steel for the country’s longest river bridge. The PSU has supplied around 90% or around 30,000 tons of steel, including TMT, structurals, and plates, for the bridge.
Source: The Hindu
