October 22, 2020: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said his ministry has allocated around Rs 80,000 crore for the development of roads and bridges in Assam.
Union minister road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari said this while laying the foundation stone of multi-modal logistics park under Bharatmala Project at Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district through video conference on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari informed the construction of Rs. 5,000 crore Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge would start in the next 2-3 months.
He further said the road from Guwahati to Jogighopa would also be upgraded to four-lane.
Gadkari said his ministry took steps for the dredging of Brahmaputra and Barak rivers to boost trade from the region.
The Union minister informed that the proposal for construction of Brahmaputra Express Highway is still under consideration and the bridge connecting Nimatighat in Jorhat with Majuli would be finalized shortly.
Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal in his speech said the people of lower Assam always felt neglected as during all these years after independence no significant industrial development took place in the region.
He said with the coming up of the multi-modal logistics park, people of the region find new hope and he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Gadkari for the initiative.
Sonowal said inspired by Prime Minister Modi, the Assam government organized global investors summit in 2018 and as a result investment worth Rs. 79,000 crore was received.
He informed that the central government has taken steps for augmentation of production capacity of BRPL from 2.5 MMT to 5 MMT and NRL from 3 MMT to 9 MMT, besides setting up a biofuel plant at Numaligarh.
The central government invested around Rs 42,000 crore alone in the Petroleum sector in Assam, he added.
Sonowal said the latest step for setting up the multi-modal logistics park would revive trade links of erstwhile river port of Dhubri connecting it up to Chittagong port of Bangladesh and significantly boost domestic and international trade.
He said the project offers a golden opportunity for the people of lower Assam for economic development.
Sonowal said his government is working for equal development of all sections of people of the state.
As part of its efforts for development of lower Assam, medical colleges at Kokrajhar and Dhubri, engineering college at Bongaigaon, ayurvedic college at Goalpara and government college at South Salmara are being taken up.
Sonowal also urged the people for taking collective responsibility to ensure hassle-free implementation of the logistics park.
Addressing the event, Assam commerce & industries minister Chandra Mohan Patowary appealed to Union minister Gadkari to sanction a similar multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) at Silchar to uniformly develop both the Barak and Brahmaputra valleys.
Source: Northeast Now
