[Assam] Building a prosperous Assam

Wed Apr 23 04:39:54 PDT 2008

Dear Manoj,

  Your plans are really great. Assuming your plans are through, a dreamy scenario hit upon me. If it could've been true!! Of course, I don't see any reason why your plans could not be materialised. With the availability of funding from multilateral agencies, these plans could definitely see the light of the day. Before doing that, solutions to some of the riddles are necessary. As far as I know, the plan of 'Dredging' was earlier taken up by Govt. I don't know why they have abandoned that. Regarding economic viability of generating power by pumped storage (if you are talking about that), specially in NER, I have serious doubts. Anyway, sources for generating power in NER is abundant. Regarding utilisation of fresh water from NER, in spite of opposition from various sources, I still think 'River linking' might be a solution. 

  However, in my opinion, the major road block towards implementation of these plans, is stability in the region from the threat of insurgency. If we do not seriously think about solving this problem now, nothing will come out of all the planning. By the way, being in the capital city of India and remaining in the forefront of so many social activities, keeping in touch with so many powerful influential men, the onus lies on us, specially people like you. We ought to organise workshops, discussions, involoving media etc., have serious discussions with the concerned people and find out a way out of this circle. We will definitely have some serious talks regarding this, if you are really interested. Anyway 'Dreams never hurt'.:)

  Rgds
  Mridul Bhuyan

Manoj Das <dasmk2k at gmail.com> wrote:
  Hi Umesh

I think the question is directed to me...
This is a grandiose idea- I know and will involve billions of
greenbacks..Stereo typed Indian planners will never think that big and for
Assam, they will never. I am seeding these ideas for the future generations,
who will be bold and more resourceful.

*And whats the problem if we have a first in India.*.:) And can you think
any other landmass in the world which is an untapped bridge between two
great economic blocks.

cheers!!
-manojda

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 11:34 AM, umesh sharma 
wrote:

> Pardon me if it seems rustic but I have never heard of dredging rivers in
> India -having lived in Delhi and having worked for national newsmedia.
> And Delhi based govt will not take up anything which seems
> out-of-the-world. so before someone puts forward this proposal show where
> else in India (preferably -compared to somewhere in Amazon river) dredging
> etc has been done -as proposed.
>
> Umesh
>
> bg wrote: *EDITORIAL*
> ------------------------------
> *Building a prosperous Assam
>  Manoj Kumar Das* *
> A* blame game been going on for quite sometime now. People at the State
> blame the Centre for the underdevelopment in Assam, while Delhi's view is
> that the State doesn't have the capacity to absorb the funds and
> capability
> for translation into development. The time has come to think big and
> prepare
> a basket of Detailed project Reports keeping an overall vision plan in the
> perspective to fulfil Assam's destiny as the most prosperous land bridge
> between two great economic blocks. The following projects can be taken up
> for implementation in the next couple of decades:
>
> An important project will be dredging of the river Brahmaputra and its
> tributaries. A look at the satellite maps of the Brahmaputra Valley will
> reveal how land is being held by the river and its tributaries. We need
> not
> grudge though, for this soil had been reclaimed by the river system from
> the
> Himalayas during the past 200 million years through erosion. It can now be
> freed for developmental purpose. On a rough estimate, some 1.5 million
> hectares can be unlocked if we dig, dredge and train the rivers. The
> reclaimed soil can be dumped in a North-South direction in mounds to get
> the
> maximum surface area. These 1.5 million hectares of reclaimed land can be
> used to rehabilitate the misplaced people from flood prone areas.
>
> The project will necessitate displacement and relocation of the riverine
> people. They can be offered job and entrepreneurial opportunities. Canals
> will ne available for cheap water transport, irrigation, and running of
> the
> river plants. Water is already a scare resource and Brahmaputra drains out
> the largest amount of fresh in India into the Bay Bengal every year. We
> have
> one of the four largest metropolises in the world in the country and this
> offers a huge market for fresh water.
>
> We can build a huge water pipeline, similar to the oil pipeline, the
> intake
> of this pipeline can be on the river bed. There is no need to have high
> dam
> for this. Technology is available to pump out water like oil with a series
> of pumping stations. Power will come from the running of the river plants
> or
> some other source,. In a few year the North East will be a power surplus
> region.
>
> The Brahmnaputra expressways will come in the post river-training stage.
> The
> is to build two paralled expressways from Dhubri to Sadiya along the
> dredged
> river, and also, series of roads along other major rivers and provide a
> faster alternative route for transit, trade and commerce linking the Far
> East and Bangladesh. The expressways will have dozens of greenfield
> planned
> cities, motels, recreation facilities, fisheries, water sports facilities,
> parks and gardens, bio diversity parks, exhibition centers, marts, malls,
> haats, craft centres, organic farms cruise ports, jetties, floating
> hospitals, maritime training colleges, floating hotels, golf course etc
> and
> will provide empolyment to thousands.
>
> Construction up of an 'aerotropolis' in upper Assam, not far from
> Dibrugarh,
> is another measure. This will be a refueling, resting and recreation stop
> for long distance fliers from the Pacific Rim to South Africa and West
> Asia.
> As of now, there is no such place. Stopovers at Bangkok, Singapore, KL are
> too near, Mumbai-Delhi is dull and Dubai is too dry and far. The
> aerotropolis will have world class recreation hubs, educational hub,
> shopping malls, sports facilities and a satellite IT hub to tap the IT
> potential of the NE Region.
>
> It's time of talk of a mega city, where about 15 million people could
> live.
> This city have an area of influence of over 1,500 km. In South East Asia,
> Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Kunming have their spheres
> of
> prosperity. To the West are Dhaka, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore,
> Hyderabad, Teheran etc. Guwahati is ideally located to yield such a sphere
> of influence, and release the pressure on land by urbanising the region.
> It
> will be an epicentre of consumption, manufacturing, trade and commerce.
> The
> great river is ideally located to support such a mega city. At least three
> eight-lane bridges across the river, roads, drainage, water, sewage,
> sanitation, power, education, recreation, entertainment and health
> facilities need to be created. The city will have to outrow its current
> topographical limitations and metamorphose itself into a great city. It an
> expand to North Guwahati in the North and Sonapur area in the South and
> engulf areas up to Nagarbera in the West and to Chandrapur in the East.
> The
> State must open up age old links by building an all-weather, four-lane
> express way through the Stillwell Road from Ledo to Mytkyina in Myanmar to
> link up with Route No. 9 of the Trans Highway, which links the ASEAN and
> Chinese road network. During our visit to China in 1999 we traveled on the
> expressway built by the Chinese on the alignment of the old Burma Road up
> to
> Lashio, inside Myanmar. In my estimate a missing link of only 225 km of
> road
> needs to be built through the Hukong Valley in Myanmar. It will make Assam
> the hub of the two great economic powerhouses of the 21st century and
> remove
> the region's economic isolation from the world. It will also unleash the
> great economic potential of Myanmar. The problems of insurgency will be
> solved only through the engagement of the youth in gainful activities.
> This
> highway will bring in prosperity and tourism from the prosperous ASEAN and
> the Pacific Rim.
>
> Assam government has sufficient cash reserves. It can kick start the
> process
> by forming an Assam Infrastructure Development Authority, where it will
> put
> the initial capital of US $1 billion. It is hoped that the Centre will not
> back out from providing additional equity if such a grandiose plan is
> formulated. This initial equity can be leveraged for bigger funds.
>
> The projects will require billions of dollars and the mantra for
> implementation will be PPP. Money is in huge supply if we know the tenets
> of
> mesmerizing the private individual investors. Anil Ambani's recent IPO was
> over subscribed at about $ 280 bn. We need to know how to tap it with a
> great business plan, Concepts sell more than products these days.
>
> http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=apr2308\edit2
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>
>
>
> Umesh Sharma
>
> Washington D.C.
>
> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
>
> Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> Harvard University,
> Class of 2005
>
> http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
>
> http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
>
>
>
>
> www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
> http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
>
>
>
> http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>
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-- 
Manoj Kumar Das
C 172 GF, Sarvodaya Enclave
New Delhi 17 India
0091 9312650558 (HP) 9910972654
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