Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the concept of an express highway along both banks of the Brahmaputra was conceived by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The Assam Government would soon start work on a 890-km Express Highway along the entire length of the Brahmaputra in the state from Sadiya in the east to Dhubri in the west, which in turn would also help arrest river-bank erosion, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in Dibrugarh on Tuesday.
Survey Work Starts Off
Launching the survey work for the proposed Brahmaputra Express Highway, CM Sonowal said his government had already sought support from World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Ambassadors of several countries in recent weeks.
Help Sought from China
Chief Minister Sonowal also announced that Government of The Assam government would also soon send an expert committee to China to carry out an in-depth study on how that country had tamed the Hwang-Ho River that was once termed as a sorrow of China. ‘We want to replicate the same to tame the Brahmaputra in Assam,’ he said.
Brahmaputra: Assam’s Strength
‘Many term the Brahmaputra as the sorrow of Assam. However, judicious use of such a great river will change the perception and we will be able to use the river to catapult growth of the state,’ Sonowal said. He said this after dedicating a 9-km dyke built at a cost of Rs 29 crore to protect Dibrugarh town from the Brahmaputra’s fury.
‘Our government has already taken up several measures to develop both banks of the mighty Brahmaputra and the proposed Brahmaputra Express Highway is an important step forward in this regard. We have already held three rounds of discussions with officials of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank in this regard,’ Sonowal said
