Cabinet clears Rs 8,970 crore Guwahati-Tezpur highway in Assam

The Story in Brief

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a Rs 8,970.2 crore, 135.87-km four-lane access-controlled highway between Baihata Chariali near Guwahati and Tezpur in Assam. The NH-15 corridor will be built under the build-operate-transfer toll model and is expected to halve travel time while doubling average speeds.

The project includes five bypasses totalling 58.7 km, a 4.9-km emergency landing facility on the Tezpur Bypass, 15 major bridges, 30 minor bridges, 19 flyovers and 46 underpasses. It will connect economic nodes, logistics hubs and destinations including Kaziranga, Orang and the Kamakhya Temple. The 15.11-km Mangaldoi Bypass is excluded.

The Indian Opinion

Claims that a new highway alone will transform Assam are overstated, just as complaints that toll roads serve no public purpose are too broad. The project has a clear test: whether travel time, congestion and accident risks actually fall after completion. Its toll burden, land impact and delivery schedule also deserve public scrutiny. The first useful scorecard will be operating speeds and journey times on the corridor, not the announcement value.

Sources (2): hindustantimes.com, indiatvnews.com

This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.

Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.

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Rabindranath TagoreGandhiMuhammad Ali JinnahB. R. AmbedkarJawaharlal NehruVinayak Damodar SavarkarSubhas Chandra Bose

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