This Monday it was when Salim group of Indonesia and Bengal government inked a deal to usher in a new roadmap of industrial rejuvenation. It’s a conglomerate of several projects and commensurate infrastructure development, among which is the proposed road-bridge across Hooghly (river Hugli in the map) that will connect Kukrahati on the eastern flank, a little north of Diamond Harbour, and Raichak on the other side near Haldia.
When ready, the bridge will establish a fast link between Kolkata and the upcoming industrial-hub, Haldia. The bridge is proposed to be 3 times higher than the historical Howrah Bridge (aka Rabindra Setu), so that ships on call to Kolkata port can easily pass beneath.
This map shows the likely place of the bridge.
Picture source : http://www.weather-forecast.com/locationmaps/Haldia.jpg.
The new bridge will undoubtedly be an engineering marvel and an enchanting showpiece, besides proving an invaluable link between the 2 cities. Apart from the bridge, Salim group will also construct an expressway from Kukrahati to Kolkata’s Dum Dum airport and further on to Barasat, the northern suburb of Kolkata. Since it will bypass Kolkata city, the expressway will become a speedy link from NH-34 (Barasat) to South 24 Paraganas district.
Bengal government has for long been trying for Japanese investements for the twin projects, and in fact a Japanese pre-feasibility survey for the bridge is to start shortly. Now that the Salim group has been roped in for these projects (and more) free of cost (in exchange for huge chunk of land for commercial exploitation), there are 2 suitors for at least the bridge project. This is an enviable situation and shows that investment in Bengal these days is indeed an exciting proposition. The government hopes to assuage the Japanese and perhaps entice them for investing in other projects. If that happens, the government will add another feather in its already crowded cap. Bravo to that.
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