NEW DELHI: The Cabinet on Friday is likely to approve six infrastructure projects worth over Rs 40,000 crore, including a nearly Rs 19,000-crore road and rail tunnel across the Brahmaputra river in Assam. This will be one of the largest government-funded projects in the highway sector.Officials said the southern district will hold its final cabinet meeting on Friday afternoon, when the top decision-making body is likely to consider more projects for approval. Infrastructure projects come mainly from the road and rail sectors.It may be recalled that recently, an inter-ministerial team headed by the expenditure secretary gave a green signal for construction of a 15.8-km-long twin-tube tunnel across the Brahmaputra river in Assam, connecting Gopur and Numaligarh. One of the pipes will be equipped with a monorail track. By design, no vehicles will move as the train passes through the tube.The Times of India first reported on October 6 that the Ministry of Roads and Railways has identified three links for the construction of road-rail dual-use tunnels, including an underwater tunnel across the Brahmaputra River and a 22-kilometer tunnel through the Chicken Neck Corridor in the Northeast.The Northeast Frontier Railway and Road Transport Department has shared details of the new and proposed alignment of the Dumdanj-Rangapani-Baghdogra section, which includes the construction of a 22-km-long tunnel. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has completed the alignment of the Gorakhpur-Siliguri Expressway project.Officials said that once the Brahmaputra Tunnel project is completed, the travel time between Gopur and Numaligarh will be reduced to 30 minutes from the current six and a half hours, and the distance will be shortened from 240 kilometers to 34 kilometers. This will enhance connectivity with Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and other northeastern states.
