Development of strategic infrastructure in Northeast will bolster national security: Part-II

The country’s first multi-modal hub would be set up at a cost of Rs 600 crore. Jogighopa, which has a road-cum-rail bridge over the Brahmaputra, is set to emerge as India’s first gateway to South and South East Asian countries as well as rest of the Northeast with government pushing for the up gradation of roadways, railways, waterways and airways facilities at the proposed hub.

The ADB in its study report suggested development of transport infrastructure for the proposed Jogighopa MMLP, including up gradation and widening of NH-17 from Bongaigaon to Guwahati via Jogighopa. The ADB report also recommended for the improvement of the Dalu-Gelepu road, which will facilitate trade between Bangladesh and Bhutan through Jogighopa and an aggregation and distribution point for international trade and transit cargo.

In its efforts to address the problems of perennial flood and continuous soil erosion on both banks of the Brahmaputra and enhance navigation through the 891 km-long National Waterway (NW)-2, the Assam government has decided to undertake dredging. The Brahmaputra and its numerous tributaries carry large amount of sediment during flood every year resulting in the rise of river bed and increase of river width. The dredging will dig out sediments from the river bed and enhance water retention capacity of the river. Consequently, the pressure on the banks will be reduced minimizing occurrences of flood and soil erosion.

The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti and Social Justice and Empowerment has pointed out that the Brahmaputra is one of the highest sediment carrying rivers in the country. The Inland Waterway Authority of India (IWAI) needs to undertake regular dredging to maintain required Least Available Depth (LAD) of 2.5 metre between Dhubri and Neamati;  2.0 metre depth between Neamati and Dibrugarh and 1.5 metre depth between Dibrugarh and Oriumghat.

On August 23, 2016, the state government held a meeting under the chairmanship of the chief minister on the proposal of dredging of Brahmaputra and its tributaries and decided to start the process in consultation with IWAI and Dredging Corporation of India (DCI). The IWAI will undertake dredging of Brahmaputra from Sadiya to Dhubri in phased manner. The project will start from Sadiya in the eastern tip of Assam. The dredging operation will be extended up to its confluence with the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.

The proper maintenance of embankments along Brahmaputra and its tributaries has also been accorded due importance. Minister for MoRTH Nitin Gadkari during his visit to Guwahati in December 30, 2017, asked the state government to take immediate steps to revamp the entire network of embankments measuring about 4,474 km and make them road-cum-dykes.

Reports say along with the dredging, a 1300 km-long Brahmaputra Express Highway would be built along the northern and southern banks using the sand extracted from dredging and make the express highway attractive for tourists. In early 2017, an agreement was signed in Guwahati between the Government of Assam, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and IWAI in this regard.

The dredging of the Brahmaputra is a challenging task with some quarters raising technical and ecological issues. A technical team from the DCI visited Assam in September 2016 and recommended that a through morphological and hydrological study of the river is required to find out the possibilities of dredging its enormous silt deposits. Experts are of the opinion that dredging along a particular width of a channel along the Brahmaputra for navigation will not provide a permanent solution to the problems of recurring flood and soil erosion. They say the mighty Brahmaputra and its several tributaries carry massive silt with their flow, about 1.8 billion tons per year.

They reason that it is impossible to make the river bed free from silt accumulation by dredging, unless an effective mechanism is applied to capture and dispose of the silt load flowing into the mainstream from its tributaries. Failing to do so will lead to the accumulation of fresh silt immediately. So they argue that undertaking dredging may not be economically viable. Besides, dredging poses a major threat to the aquatic lives of the Brahmaputra and the surrounding national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Therefore, environmentalists insist that a comprehensive ecological impact assessment study must be done before undertaking dredging.

In another significant development on the strategic infrastructure development front, Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on June 24, 2023, announced that a tunnel from Numaligarh to Gohpur under the Brahmaputra will be built at a cost of Rs 6000 crore.

The 35 km-long proposed tunnel will be the first rail-road tunnel to be built in North East India. The tunnel will bring the northern and southern areas of the Brahmaputra closer and ease connectivity with Arunachal Pradesh. It will reduce the travel time between Numaligarh and Gohpur to around 40 minutes and the distance to about 33 km. At present, it takes about 5-6 hours to cover the distance of 220 km between the two towns.

The project entails the construction of three parallel tunnels—one for road traffic, one for rail traffic, and another for emergency purposes. Reports suggest that with the Jamurihat-Silghat network, the strategic multi-modal transportation system will integrate the rail and highway networks towards north Assam, Tawang, and the rest of Arunachal.

The underwater tunnel will take off from about 9 km upstream of the existing Kaliabhomora (Tezpur) road bridge, and will connect Jakhalabandha railway station on the south bank and Dhaliabhil railway station on the north bank of Brahmaputra. The tunnel will also establish road connectivity between Gohpur on the NH-52 north bank and Numaligarh on the NH-37 south bank.

Reports say the union government has given green signal for the strategic tunnel project. Once the tunnel becomes operational, it will usher in a transformational change in the transportation infrastructure of the Northeastern region. The tunnel will enhance trade and commerce opportunities, and boost tourism. It will also ease traffic on the NH-37 and facilitate movement of troops and transfer of bulk goods on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

The NHIDCL has conducted feasibility studies through an expert consultant, Loius Berger. A first of its kind in India, the tunnel will serve both civilian and strategic purposes. The tunnel project is the brainchild of the Ministry of Railways, MoRTH and Border Road Organisation (BRO).

The tunnel project is part of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for Development of Road Network in the North Eastern States (SARDP-NE) Phase A. The MoRTH has initiated the ambitious SARDP-NE for development of road network in the north eastern states. This programme envisages providing road connectivity to all the district headquarters in the north eastern region by minimum two-lane highway standards apart from providing road connectivity to backward and remote areas, areas of strategic importance and neighbouring countries.

The recent thrust on improving connectivity in the North East reflects the Indian ruling elites’ shift from the traditional security-oriented to development-centric approach towards this peripheral region of the country.

In the context of globalisation and fast changing regional and global geo-political dynamics, New Delhi’s policy makers have been compelled to upgrade the isolated Northeast’s transport infrastructure and its linkages with the neighbouring countries to integrate the region with some of the fastest growing markets of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Asia. Assam could be transformed into the centre-point of the AEP due to its resource potentials and fairly developed transport network.