Good news for Assam! ₹8,970 crore Guwahati-Tezpur corridor approved, travel time to halve

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the construction of a 135.871-km, four-lane access-controlled Guwahati-Tezpur corridor in Assam at a cost of ₹8,970.20 crore.

The project is expected to halve travel time between the two cities while significantly improving connectivity across Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the project, which will be developed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Toll model.

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WHAT THE PROJECT INCLUDES

The corridor will be built on NH-15 and will feature a 4.9-km Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) on the Tezpur bypass, planned in coordination with the Indian Air Force.

The project also includes five major bypasses spanning 58.7 km. These will ease congestion in densely populated areas such as Baihata Chariali, Sipajhar, Kharupetia, Dekiajuli and Tezpur.

Infrastructure planned under the project includes 15 major bridges, 30 minor bridges, 19 flyovers, one elephant underpass on the Tezpur bypass, 46 underpasses and 210 km of service roads to support traffic movement along the access-controlled highway.

According to the government, the corridor will provide seamless connectivity to key economic, social and logistics hubs in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

It will improve access to eight PM Gati Shakti economic nodes, including industrial parks, two aspirational districts of Darrang and Udalguri, three major tourist destinations -- Maa Kamakhya Temple, Kaziranga National Park and Orang National Park -- and seven logistics hubs comprising three major railway stations, two airports and two waterway terminals.

The government said the project is expected to double average travel speeds and reduce travel time by half. It is also expected to improve road safety, enhance fuel efficiency, reduce vehicle operating costs and support regional mobility and socio-economic development.