A segment of the Guwahati-North Guwahati bridge over the Brahmaputra River will be inaugurated by March next year. “Our target is to open the elevated three lane flyover, which is being constructed along the river bank on Guwahati city side for the public on February 28,” Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said recently.
“The bridge will open a new vista of infrastructure development in Assam and augment various sectors. The bridge, once completed, will lead to rapid development of North Guwahati as a twin city, and will ease transportation across the North East from different parts of the country, thereby boosting the economy across the region,” he said while talking to the media.
He also told the media that ₹5,500 Cr. has been allocated for constructing an elevated expressway as a wildlife-friendly measure for the Kaziranga National Park (KNP). The work has been entrusted to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
The four-lane elevated road along NH-715 (old NH-37) will be at three locations with a total length of 34.28 km and this will also include two tunnels, he said.
Dr Sarma said the methodology to be used will avoid major construction on the existing road to reduce the impact on traffic flow, use precast/prefab technology to the extent possible to minimise construction time, while there will be no work after sunset to ensure minimal disturbance to animals roaming KNP.
“This is the biggest and perhaps the most comprehensive wildlife-friendly project that will contribute in a big way to the conservation of the Park, enhance tourism potential, enhance revenue generation and community development as a whole,” said the Chief Minister.
Dr Sarma said that the concept of the wildlife-friendly road was developed in consultation with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and will have elevated roads and tunnels to act as animal underpasses and overpasses respectively. Adjacent animal corridors are also proposed to be joined to make a longer elevated road to prevent animals from making a detour, the Chief Minister added.
”The project aims at taking long-term measures for reducing the impact caused by the national highway on one of the most important wildlife areas of the world, allowing unhindered movement of wild animals, mitigating anthropogenic fragmentation and unrestricted traffic flow,” Dr Sarma said.
He said that 80% of the cost of the tunnel linking Gohpur and Numaligarh will be borne by the NHAI and the rest by the Defence Ministry.
Dr Sarma said that ongoing construction activities of Kaliabor–Gahpur connection road, including a flyover at Mission Chariali in Tezpur would be over by December this year adding that the construction of the four-lane National Highway from Kaliabor to Dibrugarh will be completed by 2024.
The proposed Guwahati Ring Road Project will help in decongesting the city since it will bypass major traffic coming from West Bengal and Bihar to Silchar, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura entering Guwahati.
On the Kamakhya Ropeway Project, he said that the Kamakhya Ropeway system will based on Monocable Detachable Gondola (MDG) technology and it will have two terminal station of Lower Terminal Station (LTS) near Railway Station Parking and Upper Terminal Station (UTS) at an empty playground near multi-level parking building.
Four Lane Elevated Corridors:
Details of Corridors:
Corridor- 1—Rangalu to Deopani , Length: 18.861 KM
Corridor-2—Harmoti to Hatikhuli , Length: 10.492 KM ( including 2.25 KM tunnels)
Corridor -3—Panbari to Borjuri , Length : 4.930 KM
Total Length: 34.283 KM
Guwahati Ring Road:
Project Name: Construction of Northern Bypass of Guwahati from Baihata via Kuruwa; Chandrapur to Sonapur (Guwahati Ring Road) and upgrade of Basistha to Jorabat section.
Project features: The length of the proposed Guwahati Ring Road will be 121 Km, out of which 66 km (51km 4 lane and 15 km 6 lane) highways ( NH-27) is already operational on the southern side of Guwahati city as part of the East–West Corridor. Work on six lanes of the 16 km stretch from Jalukbari to Basistha junction is in progress. Proposed widening from four lane to six lane of the 10 km stretch from Basistha to Jorabat junction and the remaining 55 km is proposed for construction with a four lane highway on the northern side of Guwahati city.
Total Project Cost: ₹5800 cr.
State Support: State Government has agreed to bear 50% of the land cost, exemption from royalty on aggregates and State portion of GST.
Present Status: The project has been included under NH (O) scheme on BOT (Toll) mode and targeted for award during financial year 2023-24 with construction period of three years.
Present Status: The project has been included under NH (O) scheme on BOT (Toll) mode and targeted for award during financial year 2023-24 with construction period of 3 years.
Brief of the Gohpur to Numaligarh Project:
Gohpur Numaligarh Underwater Tunnel
Name of the Project: Four lane underwater TBM Tunnel including approaches under Brahmaputra river between Gahpur on NH-52 North Bank and Numaligarh on NH-37 South Bank.
Length: Approx 35 km (Tunnel Length- Approx 15 km + Approach on Gohpur side – Approx 11 KM + Approach on Numaligarh side – Approx 9 KM )
Tentative Cost: ₹12,000 cr
Benefit: Cut the distance from Numaligarh to Gohpur from 220 km to about 35 km and reduce the travel time from 6 hours to 35 minutes.
Current Status: Preparation of Detailed Project Report awarded to M/s Yuksel Project Sirketi – Louis Berger (JV).
Guwahati- North Guwahati connecting six lane bridge over Brahmaputra River :
The total cost of the project is estimated at ₹2,608 cr.
Length of the main bridge is 1240 metre with six lane carriageway.
Starting point of the corridor will be at Bharalumukh on the Southern bank and culmination point will be at NH-31 near Gauripur Junction on North Bank of Brahmaputra with highway length of 8405.07 metre. The highway will be six lanes of 4,447 metre length along with two lane service roads on either side.
Construction started on March 1, 2020.
Progress made: 78.15%.
Revised date of completion: Dec 31, 2024.
There will be an elevated three lane flyover which is being constructed along the river bank on the southern side.
Total length of the South bank elevated flyover will be 11.9800 metre.
Comprising two rotaries, one near Bhutnath (West Rotary) and the other one near Machkhowa (East Rotary) each of 60 metre diameter.
This three-lane elevated corridor will carry the one-way traffic from the west rotary near Bhootnath to the East Rotary near Machkhowa by–passing the Bharalumukh intersection on MG Road.
The existing MG Road will carry one way traffic from Machkhowa to Bhootnath after completion of the South Bank elevated flyover.
The Southern Elevated Flyover of this Bridge project is likely to open by February 2024.
