L&T bags contract to build India's longest river bridge, across the mighty Brahmaputra

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Wednesday said it has secured a large contract to construct the country's longest road bridge across river Brahmaputra connecting Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya. The contract was bagged by the company's subsidiary L&T Construction. As per the company, a large contract is worth Rs 2,500-5,000 crore.

'This is an extremely challenging project'

"The 19 km-long bridge will be built along National Highway 127-B and will feature a navigation bridge of 12.625 km, approach viaducts of 3.5 km on the Dhubri side and 2.2 km on the Phulbari side, connected with approach roads and interchanges on both sides," L&T said in a statement. The bridge will have huge strategic relevance by improving the connectivity of the northeastern states with the rest of the country and establish a vital link between Assam and Meghalaya by reducing the distance between the two states by 250 km, it said. Currently, the travel between Dhubri and Phulbari is by ferry that takes up to 2.5 hours.

"This is an extremely challenging project, and we thank our client, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd for reposing confidence in our capability to build a such a defining piece of infrastructure," said S V Desai, Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Civil Infrastructure), L&T. 

He said that the bridge will not only be an important passage for offering easier access to the North Eastern international borders but will give a huge fillip to trade and commerce in the region for the accelerated development of all the North Eastern States especially Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and the Barak Valley.

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L&T bags another mega-contract

Recently, the infrastructure major bagged an order worth over Rs 7,000 crore to construct a part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR), also known as the Bullet Train Project. The Mumbai-headquartered company had bid Rs 7289 for the contract - the lowest of three bids - and specified that as per its classification, a megaproject is of over Rs 7,000 crore.

The transportation infrastructure business of L&T Construction has secured a mega-contract from the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) to construct 87.569 km of the MAHSR project, L&T said in a regulatory filing. The scope of the order includes the construction of viaducts, one station, major river bridges, maintenance depots, and other auxiliary works.

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(With PTI inputs)