The Road Ahead
It was a historic event on Christmas day last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bogibeel bridge in Assam. The 4.9 km bridge over the mighty Brahmaputra is the second longest rail cum road bridge in Asia. It reduces travel time between Tinsukia in Assam to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh by more than 10 hours, while shaving off three hours of train travel time between Dibrugarh and Delhi. It reduces the distance between Rupai (Assam) to Roing (Arunachal Pradesh) by 165 km, a daily fuel saving of Rs 10 lakh. The cascading economic benefit to the region is even greater.
At the same time, it also highlights the trials and tribulations that large projects face in India. Part of the Assam Accord of 1985, Bogibeel was sanctioned in 1997/98, but construction began only in April 2002. Multiple missed deadlines resulted in project cost rising 85 per cent to Rs 5,900 crore.
Delays and cost escalations have become the norm in
