The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a press conference with the Assamese media made some major announcements with regard to Assam’s role in the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
The question was asked by North East Live Editor-in-Chief Wasbir Hussain to the Assam Chief Minister about his visit to Bhutan during the 117th National Day and what Assam is doing to prepare for the GMC and if Assam is building something across Gelephu.
The Chief Minister said, “The visit to Bhutan was primarily to understand the development of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) because this is one of the biggest things happening around our geography. I think for the entire South-East Asia, GMC will be a huge development and a huge factor for the entire geography and economy.”
He said they have already developed the module for a six-lane highway between Bongaigaon and Gelephu.
He said, “I am hopeful that the GoI will soon announce a Railway track from Guwahati to Gelephu via Kokrajhar. It will be a different Railway track. If you run the Vande Bharat kind of luxury train there then whoever will come to Gelephu will also come to Guwahati.”
The CM said His Majesty The King informed him that on the GMC itself there will be a billion dollars of investment.
“The city will have an international airport and host the biggest names of the world and the biggest millionaires and billionaires will come and stay there.”
The CM said His Majesty The King is also keen to see that Assam is also benefited from GMC.
“We should market both Assam and Gelephu together and so our job is not to create a twin city. We don’t want to compete with Bhutan but we want to be a complimenting factor in Bhutan’s GMC.”
The Assam CM said the Guwahati airport will be inaugurated in July which will almost be comparable to Bhutan’s GMC Airport because His Majesty was very kind to show him the drawings of the airport.
He said the Central Government wants that Bhutan and Assam should work very closely.
“Our duty is to see that the GMC is successful rather than competing with Gelephu.”
He said for the railway projects the Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is coming on the 3rd of January and he is hopeful that during that time he will get a first-hand briefing from the Indian minister of Railways regarding the progress of the Railway projects.
The CM said that lots of things are happening in Assam to make use of the GMC.
The Assam CM said that apart from Gelephu they also had very interesting other conversations in Bhutan.
The CM said he was assured that Assam can develop any kind of water supply project using Bhutan’s water like for irrigation projects.
He also talked about hydropower cooperation with Bhutan using Bhutan’s rivers.
“So, this visit was a land mark visit and Assam never thought 30 years from now as we only try to manage our day-to-day affairs, but this visit encouraged by Dr Jaishankar (External Affairs Minister) creates a vision 30 years from now of how Assam and Bhutan can develop.”
The CM also talked about trade routes for Bhutan, He said Bhutan is exporting through Jogighopa and recently four stone loads of ships have started their journey from Jogighopa to Bangladesh.
He said Bhutan also wants to use the land port of Golokgang and that ultimately Bhutan’s idea is that they explored enough of West Bengal for transportation and now they want to develop another green area called Assam.
He said Bhutan and Assam will have a lot of partnerships in the days to come and the Prime Minister of Bhutan will come for their investment summit.
The CM said His Majesty has also assured him that His Majesty will come to Assam in 2025 along with His Majesty’s family.
