NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet is expected to consider more than half a dozen major infrastructure projects worth over ₹40,000 crore on Friday, including a nearly ₹19,000 crore road-cum-rail tunnel under the Brahmaputra river in poll-bound Assam. If approved, the project will rank among the largest government-funded highway initiatives.
The meeting, to be held at South Block on Friday afternoon, is likely to be the last Cabinet session before upcoming political engagements. Officials said additional proposals could also be placed before the government’s highest decision-making body, with most projects pertaining to the road and railway sectors.
Recently, an inter-ministerial panel led by the expenditure secretary cleared the proposal for constructing a 15.8-km twin-tube tunnel across the Brahmaputra, connecting Gohpur and Numaligarh in Assam. One of the tubes will accommodate a single railway track, with vehicular movement suspended whenever trains pass through it.
Earlier, the road transport and railway ministries had identified three strategic links for developing road-cum-rail tunnels, including underwater stretches beneath the Brahmaputra and a proposed 22-km tunnel through the strategic Chicken Neck corridor in the Northeast.
The Northeast Frontier Railway has shared details of a proposed new rail line in the Dumdangi–Rangapani–Bagdogra section, which includes plans for a 22-km tunnel, with the road transport ministry. Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has finalised the alignment for the Gorakhpur–Siliguri Expressway project.
Officials said that once the Brahmaputra tunnel is completed, travel time between Gohpur and Numaligarh will drop dramatically from about six-and-a-half hours to just 30 minutes. The distance will shrink from 240 km to 34 km, significantly boosting connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and other northeastern states.
