GUWAHATI, Jan 3 – The North East Frontier Railways have started the preliminary works of the much-awaited fourth bridge over the river Brahmaputra at Bogibeel to connect Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur districts. The Railway board has already sanctioned the estimate for the preliminary works for the construction of the bridge. The foundation stone of the Bogibeel bridge, which will be the longest of the bridges over the river Brahmaputra, was laid way back in 1996 and the work was sanctioned in 1997. The M/s Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) was entrusted with the job of carrying out a detailed survey for the construction of the bridge. The Chief Engineer, Construction of the NF Railways, Sri Sanjiv Roy, talking to The Assam Tribune today said that the RITES survey included location of the bridge, topography, pattern of the flow of the river etc. The RITES submitted its detailed report in 2000 and as per the report, the total cost of construction of the bridge was estimated to the tune of Rs 1762 crore. However, the Railways, considering the flow of rail traffic through that area, decided to go for a single track bridge and Sri Roy revealed that now the total cost would come down by about 20 to 25 per cent. The Railways have now asked the RITES to submit a fresh report for the single track rail-cum-road bridge and Sri Roy expressed the hope that the study would be completed within six to eight months.
Meanwhile, the Railways have started the preliminary works and the Railway Board has already sanctioned an estimate amounting to Rs 376 crore for the purpose. Sri Roy said that the Railways have requested the Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh district to expedite the process of land acquisition for the construction of the approaches and the State Government has been requested to take necessary steps for basing out of quarries for collection of boulders for bank protection works. He said that the Railways have invited tenders for collection of boulders and construction of approach roads. He pointed out that boulder collection for the bank protection work would be a major job as according to an estimate, at least seven lakh cubic metres of boulders would be required for protection works in the south bank itself. The preliminary works also include rail link from Chaulkhowa station in the southern bank to the bridge and from the bridge of the nearest station in the North bank.
The Railway Ministry has also approached the Union Surface Transport Ministry for sharing the cost of the bridge as it will be a road cum rail bridge. Sri Roy pointed out that it would take about a couple of years to complete the preliminary works and only then the actual construction of the bridge would start. It may be mentioned here that the construction of the fourth bridge over the river Brahmaputra will go a long way in the development of the northern bank districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. Even for treatment, the people of the districts have to travel for hours and cross the river to come to the Assam Medical College and the construction of the bridge will solve this problem to a great extent. Moreover, the bridge will also go a long way in the overall development of Arunachal Pradesh districts bordering the northern bank districts of Assam.