Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced the Centres approval to an over Rs 3,000-crore externally aided project (EAP) for building the eighth bridge over the Brahmaputra river near Guwahati and also performed the bhoomi pujan for another EAP worth Rs 2,200 crore for a 120-MW hydel project in Assams Dima Hasao district. In a day-long visit to the state, Sitharaman also laid the foundation of improvement and upgrading work of a 90-km road from Haflong Tinali to Lower Haflong at an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore to be implemented under ADB-aided Assam Road Network Improvement Project (ARNIP).
In her last engagement, she launched the Assams Right to Public Services portal. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the portal is a way forward for electronic delivery of ARTPS notified public services to people. Our government is committed to bringing about fast, effective and resilient reforms in Governance in tandem with the rapidly transforming world, he added.
This run-of-the-river project over Kopili river will help increase electricity supplied from clean energy by 469 gigawatt hour (GWh) by 2025 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 360,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.