GUWAHATI: The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari today informed that there has been no proposal for building highways on both sides of the river Brahmaputra after the dredging of the river.
The Minister said this in a written reply to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP from Assam Ajit Kumar Bhuyan regarding the construction of the highways on both sides of the river.
Questioning the Bhartiya Janata Party BJPs promise of constructing the express highway, Bhuyan in a tweet said: The BJP had announced a year ago that it would excavate the Brahmaputra and build an express highway on both sides. Is the express highway already completed?
On the dredging of the river Brahmaputra Gadkari informed that dredging work is carried out on need basis mainly between October and March for the smooth navigation of vessels where the width and depth of the navigation channel are less than targeted available depth. Gadkari further informed that the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), an autonomous body, under Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways does maintenance dredging for shipping and navigation on National Waterways-2 (NW-2, River Brahmaputra).
Bhuyan who also inquired about the construction of the bridge over the Brahmaputra that would connect Majuli and Jorhat in Assam, Gadkari informed that an amount of Rs 925 crore has been sanctioned for which bids have been received.
It needs to be mentioned here that earlier on 2017, The Union Minister during the closing ceremony of Namami Brahmaputra said that the first express highway project in the northeast region will be developed along the Brahmaputra river at an estimated investment of ₹ 40,000 crore.
He further informed that the Centre will carry out the dredging work and the soil coming from the dredging of Brahmaputra will be utilised for construction of the road.
A tripartite agreement was also signed between the Assam government, the National Highways Authority of India and the Inland Waterways of India for dredging and construction of the express highway in Assam.