[Assam] Building a prosperous Assam

[Ram Sarangapani]

Dear Manoj,

First let me congratulate on the editorial. This is an interesting topic,
and there are also some interesting views (none bad, just different) and
they are all important.

I don't know much about dredging. All I know is that Assam has been dredging
the Brahmaputra for a long time and it seems like something that is
impossible to solve :).

But, first about "dreams".
Dreams often mean 'ideas' and these are very important. Ideas and dreams
germinate and huge projects are launched. Without dreams many things would
not have happened - even insurgency :)

But, again, like Mridul (I think) mentioned, dreams have to be anchored in
practicalities. We need realisitc dreams for Assam.
Your idea about an 'aerotropolis' does seem unique and maybe even a
possibility. I am surprised the Assam Govt. has cash reserves and US $ 1
billion may be possible. I always thought that it did not (or ever) have
enough money for salaries for employees, or for an enigneering college in
Dhemaji or what have you.

An aerotropolis seems like a good idea, but I suspect it will need the WILL
& tenacity of the Assamese people, the Govt. both at the Center and State,
and lastly, and not the least, it has to be competitive.
By that, I mean, it has to attract airlines worldwide to stop/refuel there.
It does not stop there, the airlines will require an infrastructure built
around it (shopping/electricity/hotels etc etc), and security. Now, it is
possible to build a small mega-city like you suggest and have this
areotropolis in it.


The idea of taking up small, doable projects is something which carries a
lot of merit. It makes sense - one step at a time. But the flip side is
Assam has just too many problems and millions of small ones - how long will
this one-at-time thing have to go on?

IMHO - we have to be able to at least identify (think of Assam as a whole)
some big projects that are paramount. For example, eradicating corruption
from Assam.

Corruption has to be treated as an 'Anti-Social, Anti-Assam' behavior. All
political/student groups are the ones that will have to hold
bureaucrats,babus, and individuals responsible.

Then there are other things like roads, communication, computer access
(which you mentioned) which are also very important.
Today, there are many passenger trains to/from Assam. What about goods
traffic. Often that is ignored. Assam, needs fast, efficient, and
cost-effective goods transportation facility - similarly for road transport.
That done, we have to also identify some small projects that have high
success rates.

Some examples (offhand) - the Engineering college in Dhemaji. Buljit has
been spearheading the effort for a number of years. And Buljit, has not been
able to realize his 'dreams' yet. Why is not possible for the AASU for
example to take up such a worthy cause?
Other examples are opening up small workshops for most anything from career
guidance to teaching basic skills that can enable a young adult to earn a
living .
Or electrifying a small  village, or set up a library in a rural setting.

Well, thats my 2 cents.

--Ram da










On 4/22/08, bg <bgogoi at gmail.com> 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
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>