Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated India’s longest Dhola-Sadiya bridge across river Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra in Assam.

The three lane bridge, stretching 9.15 km, is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai.

The fourth bridge on the Brahmaputra is designed to facilitate the movement of battle tanks, and is expected to help movement of the army to the border with China in the Wallong-Kibithu sector in southern Arunachal Pradesh.

The total length of the Dhola-Sadiya bridge project, including the approach roads on each side, is 28.50 km.

Estimated to have cost around Rs 2,056 crore, the 9.15 km long bridge will reduce travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from six hours to just one hour, reducing the distance by 165 km.

The project built on BOT Annuity basis, is a part of the Arunachal Package of Roads and Highways under the Ministry’s Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East (SARDP-NE).