PM Modi to inaugurate India's longest bridge in Assam
On his third anniversary of taking over as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will be in Assam on Friday to inaugurate a number of projects, including the country's longest bridge — the Dhola-Sadiya Bridge
Referring to the Dhola-Sadiya bridge, the prime minister said, "This is one of the most important infrastructure projects in our nation." According to experts, the bridge has military implications too.
The bridge will reduce the travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from six hours to just one hour as the distance will shrink by 165 km.
According to Bloomberg, the nation’s longest bridge, spanning 9.2 km across the Brahmaputra River, will ensure the smooth movement of troops to Arunachal Pradesh, one of India’s most remote regions that is claimed in full by China.
"I will be in Assam tomorrow to take part in various programmes. I am eagerly awaiting this opportunity to interact with people of Assam," PM Modi tweeted on Thursday night. Modi, who led the BJP to a massive victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, was sworn-in as the prime minister on May 26 that year.
He said he will also lay the foundation stone for two key projects — All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Agriculture Research Institute.
"Both projects will quicken the development of Assam & the Northeast," he said in another tweet.
Why is the bridge so important
Speaking to Bloomberg regarding the infrastructure project, K V Kuber, an independent defence analyst and former colonel in the Indian Army, said, "The bridge across the Brahmaputra into Arunachal Pradesh is a great strategic shift in the thinking in the Indian defence establishment regarding infrastructure development in the borders with China."
"The new infrastructure will help the Indian military to be prepared for a decent rebuttal to ward off any misadventure from the Chinese side," Kuber added.
Part of other critical projects across the country
The bridge, according to the Bloomberg report, is among a slew of infrastructure projects that Modi has fast-tracked since taking office three years ago. The projects include a railway bridge taller than the Eiffel Tower in the disputed region of Kashmir and a train track in the middle of a tiny southern island in the Indian Ocean. They were launched a decade ago under the government of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Now Modi’s biggest challenge is to see these projects to completion without delays — something those before him have struggled with.