Infrastructure investment of around Rs 1 lakh cr announced in biz summit: Assam CM Himanta

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said a total investment of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore was announced for infrastructure development by various government agencies during the business summit here.

The investments will be made by the central government in sectors such as road transport, railway connectivity, waterways enhancement and air connectivity, he added.

Speaking at a session on roads, railway and waterways infrastructure during the 'Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit 2025', Sarma said, "Announcements have been made by Union ministers for various projects in road, railway, airways, waterways and I-way since yesterday. If all the amount is taken together, it comes to nearly Rs 1 lakh crore."

Mentioning the road projects to be undertaken, Sarma said these will reduce travel time drastically and help in economic development.

The Guwahati-Panchagram expressway highway, first such in the Northeast, will bring down travel time to Silchar to five hours from over 10 hours now.

Relevant authorities have cleared the elevated corridor at Kaziranga National Park and tunnel under Brahmaputra River, and these projects will be game-changers for the state, the CM said.

He said work has already started for an express highway to Dibrugarh from Guwahati to drastically reduce travel time.

Sarma stressed that skilled manpower would be required for executing the infrastructure development projects, including engineers and other technically qualified people.

"For executing these projects, we will need skilled labour. And hence, we have involved youth in this summit," he said.

The CM urged engineering colleges to align their curriculum to the needs of the industry.

"Emotion cannot build a community. We have to create a pragmatic, realistic and futuristic roadmap," he said.

"Our next challenge is for academic reforms. We have to overhaul our education system to create skilled manpower," Sarma added.

He maintained that with proper planning and training, Assam will be able to meet the skilled manpower requirement for the projects.

The state could get a headstart and later on provide skilled manpower to other states where similar infrastructural projects are undertaken," Sarma added.