延期两年之后，印度位于中印边境的最长大桥“多拉—萨迪亚大桥”日前竣工，并将于5月26日印度总理莫迪执政3周年之际向公众开放。印度媒体称，全长9.15公里的该大桥落成意味着从印度东北部阿萨姆邦到“阿鲁纳恰尔邦”(即中国藏南地区)的交通将缩短4小时，这也被认为是印度在中印边界东段地区强化控制的重要举措。

多拉—萨迪亚大桥

　　据《印度时报》15日报道，作为布拉玛普特拉河(中国段称雅鲁藏布江)上的最大桥，多拉—萨迪亚大桥设计为军民两用双向双车道，印度陆军60吨重坦克可在桥上穿行，该桥北岸所抵的阿尼尼地区距中印边界直线距离只有100公里。
　　据报道，多拉—萨迪亚大桥耗资95亿卢比(约合10亿元人民币)，2011年开建，原定2015年建成。在今年的季风雨季来临之前，莫迪将为多拉—萨迪亚大桥落成剪彩，这被看作印度政府“给阿萨姆邦和阿鲁纳恰尔邦人民的礼物”。此前，当地人来往于河两岸只能靠摆渡，耗时4个小时以上。
　　现如今，不仅民众交通得到改善，它更大大缩短了阿萨姆邦驻军向布拉玛普特拉河北岸调动的时间。阿萨姆邦首席部长萨巴纳达日前在接受印度报业托拉斯采访时表示，“由于多拉—萨迪亚大桥紧邻中印边界，一旦双方冲突再起，它将极其有利于印度的兵力调动。

多拉—萨迪亚大桥

　　《印度时报》还援引印度道路建设部门人士的分析称，大桥落成对“阿鲁纳恰尔邦”的道路连接也至关重要，该邦目前还没有机场，而在中国实控线一侧已经有机场设施在建。该消息源还透露，途经这一区域的印度第NH-13高速路拓宽工程也在进行中。
　　多拉—萨迪亚大桥比位于孟买的跨海大桥还要长3.55公里，这一印度新的建桥纪录被认为是莫迪政府全国基建提速的又一例证。莫迪将于5月26日赴阿萨姆邦为该大桥项目剪彩，这不仅被看作是他执政3周年的一份献礼，也被认为是阿萨姆邦由人民党主政一周年之际的重要庆典。
　　中国南亚学会常务理事钱峰15日对《环球时报》记者表示，印度这一动作是强化其“占领即占有”主张的反映。莫迪上台以来加快了这一步伐。印度这一动向不利于中印边界争议的解决，或引发中方相应的反制措施。

  

After 15 years, Bogibeel bridge in Upper Assam nears completion
Feb 14, 2017 09:05
Guwahati
Staff Curator


A series of pillars, mostly incomplete, running across the 4.94-km wide Brahmaputra... For long, this was was the picture at Bogibeel, near Dibrugarh in Upper Assam.
But this is now set to change.
The bridge is finally nearing completion and is expected to open rail and road connectivity between Bogibeel on the south bank of the Brahmaputra and Silapathar in Dhemaji district on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, in a year.
Related: 5 facts about Bogibeel India’s longest Rail-cum-Road bridge
And, for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will seek re-election in 2019, Bogibeel may serve as a concrete symbol of effort to develop infrastructure in the North-East, and also forbetter defence logistics along the Sino-Indian border.
India has 3,488-km-long land boundary with China. Almost a third of it runs in Arunachal Pradesh.
Currently, the rail and road link to Arunachal is maintained by three lower- and mid-Assam bridges —
Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district;
Saraighat near Guwahati;
and Kolia-Bhomora between Sonitpur and Nagaon.
But this means a cargo from Dibrugarh in the north-eastern corner of Assam takes a 600-km detour merely to cross the Brahmaputra.
The only other alternative is crossing by ferry.
But that is not suitable for large and heavy cargo.
Moreover, in a region where the monsoon lasts six months (May-October), ferry services often remain disrupted for months.


Strategic project
To improve logistics along the Sino-Indian border, India had planned a number of infrastructure projects nearly two decades ago.
This includes:
the construction of a Trans-Arunachal Highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, and
new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, the Lohit, the Subansiri and the Kameng.
Bogibeel was a central piece of this plan.
It aimed linking NH-52 at Dhameji with NH-52 B in Dibrugarh; convert the metre-gauge rail links in the north into broad gauge and connect it with existing broad-gauge rail link at Dibrugarh, creating a loop running across Upper and Lower Assam.
Though approved in 1996, construction of the bridge was initiated by the first BJP-led NDA government in 2002.
The Congress-led UPA government, which ruled for a decade since 2004, appreciated the importance of the bridge and declared it as a national project in 2007.
But implementation was slow, despite a Congress government in the State.
In July 2014, when this correspondent visited the project, 15 out of the 42 piers were coming up while work had barely begun on the rest.
The project cost had spiralled to ₹6,000 crore from ₹1,767 crore in 2002.

The scene has now changed dramatically.
The construction of the piers is complete.
The superstructure is 70 per cent done, with 29 out of 39 steel spans, each 125-m long and weighing half a coal-laden cargo train, already resting on the piers.
The rest of the spans of the double-decker bridge will be in place by July.
Road building, on the upper deck, is apace at the Silapathar end.
Laying of railway tracks will begin soon.
Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) is confident of completing the bridge by March 2018.

Bogibeel is the most important, though not the only, proof of infrastructure push in the region.
The 9.15-km Dhola-Sadiya bridge at the confluence of the Lohit and the Brahmaputra further up at Tinsukia in Assam is also nearing completion.
Conceived in 2011, it was scheduled for completion in 2015.
Latest reports suggest the bridge, along with approach roads, will open early next year, offering easy connectivity to western Arunachal.
The Patkai range of hills running through Tinsukia and Dibrugarh are now hideouts of Naga and Assamese militants.
But the bridge, coupled with Stilwell Road that connects Tinsukia to China through Myanmar, will throw open more logistics options for the Army operations.
The Centre recently completed a second bridge at Saraighat and announced plans to build at least two more bridges over the Brahmaputra in Upper Assam between Bogibeel and Kolia-Bhomora.
The government has announced a ₹60,000-crore accelerated road building plan for the North-East, including widening of the national highways.
By: Pratim Ranjan Bose | Source: The Hindu Business Line