PM Modi will inaugurate the Bogibeel Bridge connecting north and south banks of the Brahmaputra (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Christmas will inaugurate the Bogibeel Bridge, India's longest rail-road bridge, connecting the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra, falling in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, a senior railway official said.
The bridge is 4.94 km long.
"The prime minister will inaugurate the bridge on December 25 which is also marked by the government as Good Governance Day," the official told.
While former prime minister HD Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the Bogibeel bridge in January 1997, the work started only in April 2002 when former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated its construction.
With several deadlines having been missed over the past 16 years, the first freight train ran on it on December 3.
The Bogibeel Bridge is part of infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics in Arunachal Pradesh. This includes the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.
It also includes new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, Lohit, Subansiri and Kameng.