Dibrugarh: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday inspected the Bogibeel bridge here.

Sonowal said the bridge would be completed by this year end and that he would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the bridge.

"The Bogibeel bridge will be inaugurated by the end of this year. The railway authorities have assured us that the bridge will be completed shortly. On behalf of the people of Assam, I will request our honourable Prime Minister to inaugurate the same. The bridge will not only facilitate connectivity between the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra in the eastern region of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh but will also boost defence logistics along the border. The central government will decide the name of the bridge," Sonowal said after visiting the bridge.

He said the Prime Minister was taking adequate steps for the infrastructural development of Assam.

"The Bogibeel bridge that will connect the twin districts of Dibrugarh and Dhemaji will usher in a new era of economic development in the region, apart from strengthening national security in the border areas," Sonowal said.

The failure to meet the deadlines has shot up the project's cost from the initial Rs 1,767 crore to Rs 5,800 crore.

The Northeast Frontier Railways Construction Organisation had earlier told Union minister of state for railways Rajen Gohain that the construction of the bridge would be completed in all aspects by October.

Before that, it had set a June deadline for the completion of the bridge.

On April 21, 2002, late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had inaugurated the construction of the 4.94km long bridge, five years after former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda laid its foundation stone on January 22, 1997.

While a section of the BJP are in favour of naming the bridge after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, there have also been demands by several organisations to name the bridge after legendary Ahom king Chaolung Siu-ka-pha or Sootea queen Sati Sadhani.