The Dhola-Sadiya Bridge, officially known as Bhupen Hazarika Bridge, is a beam bridge in India, connecting the northeast states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.[1] The bridge spans the Lohit River, a major tributary of the Brahmaputra, connecting the village of Dhola in the south to the village of Sadiya to the north, both in Tinsukia district of Assam, and providing convenient access to Arunachal Pradesh, whose border lies a short distance from Sadiya.[2] The bridge is the first permanent road connection between the northern Assam and eastern Arunachal Pradesh.[3]
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways started a feasibility study of the project in August 2003 after demands from local constituents.[9] In January 2009, the bridge was approved for construction with funding from the Government of India as part of the Arunachal Pradesh Package of Roads and Highways.[11][12]
Construction began in November 2011 as a public-private partnership with Navayuga Engineering Company, with an expected completion in 2015. However, due to construction delays and cost increases, the bridge's completion date was pushed into 2017.[13][14]
The project cost around ₹1,000 crore (equivalent to ₹14 billion or US$164 million in 2023) and construction took over five years to complete.[15] It is 3.55 kilometres (2.21 mi) longer than the Bandra Worli Sea Link in Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India.[16]
^Subir Bhaumik (26 May 2017). "India opens longest bridge on China border". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 May 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2017. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, and refers to it as "southern Tibet". [...] "With China getting more and more aggressive, it is time we strengthened our physical infrastructure to defend our territory," India's junior Home Minister Khiren Rijiju, a native of Arunachal Pradesh, told journalists.
