Transport & Communication
Assam being the gateway of the North East India, the sector in the State is of vital importance for speedy economic development of the region. Due to its geographical isolation, transport has been a major bottleneck in the process of eco- nomic progress of the State. The State although served by all the modern means of transport viz.; roads, railways, wa- terways and airways, there is enough scope for further im- provement of the facilities.
Roads
The principal function of the Public Works Department (PWD) is to develop the infrastructure for transport & com- munication of the State and residential & non-residential accommodation facility in the State. The Assam PWD (Roads wing) is chiefly responsible for improvement of road communication through construction and mainte- nance of roads, bridges and culverts for speedy develop- ment of the State.
The road network in Assam comprises of total 58202 km of roads consisting of 3862.54 km National Highways
Road Network in Assam (in Km)
| Sl No | Item | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
| Surfaced Road | 23747 | 23948 | 25546 | |
| Un-surfaced Road | 21753 | 20914 | 19316 | |
| National Highway | 3069 | 3069 | 3863 | |
| State Highway | 3134 | 3134 | 2530 | |
| Major District Road | 4413 | 4413 | 4379 | |
| Rural Road | 36544 | 36544 | 36544 | |
| Urban Road | 2496 | 1496 | 1409 |
2530 km State Highways, 4379 km Major District Roads, 1409 km Urban Roads, 36544 km Rural Roads and the rest are Panchayats and other Non-PWD Roads. Presence of large number of submersible stretches and existence of large num- ber of semi-permanent timber bridges have hampered all weather road communication on many of the roads in the State. Moreover, considerable portion of the maintenance fund has to be spent on maintenance of these bridges which hinder the interest of speedy development. To maintain smooth road communication, the State PWD has started conversion of such semi-permanent timber bridges in phased manner as well as continues construction of new RCC bridges on missing links in the State.
The rapid increase of the number of motor vehicles on road in Assam has been observed over the past few years. The on road vehicle population in the State has reached 2666589 as on March 2016 as against 2384576 as on March 2015. An additional of 282013 or 11.80 per cent on road motor vehicles was added during the year 2015-16 over 2014-15. Out of the total 2666589 motor vehicles during on road about 61.20 per cent vehicles were two wheelers. The total number of Motor vehicle on road in the State was recorded about 11.80 percent growth as on March 2016 compared to 20.10 per cent growth as on March 2015 (2384576) which shows
decline trend.
The density of motor vehicle in Assam was 34.90 per sq km during the the year 2015-16 as against 30.40 vehicles per sq km during the year 2014-15. During the year 2000-01, density of motor vehicles in Assam was only 6.80 per sq km.
The collection of transport revenue by the Department of Transport during the year 2015-16 was Rs. 453.93 crore as against 378.98 crore in 2014-15. The collection of trans- port revenue during the year 2015-16 was 19.70 per cent more than that of 2014-15.
| Number of Motor Vehicle Registered No of Motor Vehicle Registered and Vehicle on-Road | ||||||
| Year | No.of Motor Vehicle Registered | No.of Registered Motor Vehicle per | No of Motor Vehicle on Road | No of Motor Vehicle Road on per | ||
| 100 sq km | Lakhof Population | |||||
| 2008-09 | 119126 | 152 | 402 | 1180177 | 1504 | 3979 |
| 2009-10 | 241247 | 308 | 803 | 1320867 | 1684 | 4397 |
| 2010-11 | 199076 | 253 | 655 | 1363625 | 1738 | 4484 |
| 2011-12 | 226010 | 288 | 725 | 1528269 | 1948 | 4903 |
| 2012-13 | 227367 | 290 | 729 | 1725222 | 2199 | 5528 |
| 2013-14 | 249564 | 318 | 799 | 1984880 | 2530 | 6360 |
| 2014-15 | 267900 | 341 | 858 | 2384576 | 3040 | 7641 |
| 2015-16 | 290874 | 370 | 932 | 2666589 | 3400 | 8545 |
Assam State Transport Corporation
The Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC), a State Government undertaking, is mainly concerned with the move- ment of passenger traffic on the nationalised routes of the State, while the private sector road transport operators are involved in the inter-state movement of both goods and pas- senger traffic throughout the State. As a step towards im- provement of passenger amenities the State Government has already constructed three Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) at Guwahati, Jorhat and the other at Silchar to facili- tate Inter-State transportion of passengers. Inter-State Bus Terminuses have been constructed at Dibrugarh and Sivasagar by the ASTC with all modern facilities for passen- gers and bus operators.
The ASTC has also set up a multistory car parking build- ing at Guwahati to ease out shortage of car parking space within the Paltanbazar area.
According to ‘Economic Survey, Assam’ (2016-17) the Corporation operates 668 buses of its own and as many as 1,009 private buses are plying under ASTC banner. The revenue earning of ASTC has increased from Rs. 997.49 lakh in 2000-01 to Rs. 3618.12 lakh in 2015-16.
Railways
The railway route length in Assam at the end of 2014-15 was 2471.18 km comprising of 2091.87 km under Broad Gauge and 379.31 km Metre Gauge compared to was total railway route length of 2458.93 km comprising of 1470.06 km.under Broad gauge and 988.87 km Metre Gauge in 2013-14. The proportion of Board Gauge railway route length in the State, although, is 84.65 per cent, it shares only 2.63 percent of the country’s total Broad Gauge railway route length. Taking into account of 65,000 km (March 2015) the total railway route length of for the country as a whole, Assam shares only 3.8 percent of the total railway route length of the country till the end of March 2015. The Ministry of Railways has undertaken various developmental activities in the Railway Sector in the State
including extension of railways line to link the other States of North-Eastern States Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram through Assam. Among the ongoing railway projects. Bogibeel rail cum Road Bridge is under progress and gauge conversion of Lumding-Silchar-Jiribum has been completed. Badarpur to Baraigram-Kumarghat, Rangia-Murkongselek projects are declared as national projects and the works are on progress. The construction new Broad Gauge lines connecting Harmuti (Assam) and Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh) is also completed. New Mainaguri to Jogighopa (257 km) is under progress.
The Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge, which will perhaps be the longest railway bridge in the country and the fourth bridge across the Brahmaputra River is under construction and targeted to be completed by 2017. The rail link connecting north and south bank across the Bridge is also under various stages of completion. The Moranhat- Chawlkhowa (44 km) rail link on south bank of Bogibeel Project commissioned on. 8-12-2009 and handed over to open line on 29-01-2010.
Air Transport
Assam is well connected with the rest of the country through Air Transport. The State has the highest numbers of operational civil airports and these are located at Guwahati, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, North Lakhimpur and Silchar. All major airlines including private commercial airlines viz., Indian Airlines, JetLite, Air Asia, Spice jet, Go-air etc. operate regular flights to and from Guwahati. There are regular intra-state air services also connecting aforementioned airports of the State. In addition to these civil airports, small private airstrips in the interior areas are present in large numbers.
| Air Transport Statistics of Assam | ||||||
| Item/Year | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
| Air Traffic Movement (No.) | 34649 | 35022 | 33535 | 29426 | 30363 | |
| Passenger Handled (No.) | 2326142 | 2685871 | 2526434 | 2442613 | 2552861 | |
| Average No. of Flight per day | 95 | 96 | 92 | 81 | 83 | |
| Average No. passenger Handled per day | 6373 | 7359 | 6922 | 6692 | 6994 | |
In Guwahati sector movement of air traffic as well as passenger traffic (both domestic and international) has been rapidly increasing during the last six years.
The Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Internatinal Airport, Guwahati is the only International Airport in the North-East India.
Inland Water Transport
Assam is a riverine State. As much as 32 percent of the water resource of the country flow down through the river Brahmaputra, Barak and their myriad tributaries weaves a vast network of waterways in the State. The Brahmaputra has 891 km navigable length of waterways from Sadiya to Dhubri while the Barak has 94 km length of navigable waterways. The Sadiya – Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra River has been declared as the 2nd National Waterways of the country. The waterways being the cheapest mode of transport, effective exploitation of these waterways in order to cater to the growing need for goods and passenger movement is the need of the hour.
The Government owned organisations Central Inland Waterways Corporation and Directorate of Inland Water Transport (IWT), Assam, are operating water transport services on the river Brahmaputra and Barak on commercial basis. These services are used for the transportation of passengers and goods alike. Currently, the Directorate of Inland Water Transport is operating 74 ferry services, out of which 54 ferries are plying in the Brahmaputra valley and 24 in the Barak valley. The IWT Department has introduced 61 nos. of cargo cum passenger service in Assam for transportation of commuters throughout the nook and corner of the State where no road communications are available. At present the IWT department has 240 nos of passenger ferry vessels and 17 nos of commercial vessels of its own. Besides these Government owned organisations, large number of private owners conducted ferry services (commonly known as bhoot-bhooty services) to transport goods and passengers to the remotest hinterlands under un-organised sector.
The IWT department has introduced Air-conditioned long distance river cruise service for the development for river tourism. The department has leased out a vessel M K Charaidew to private entrepreneur on hire basis. The department has also introduced two luxurious A/C cruise vessels on the river Brahmaputra and they are being operated by the department itself at Guwahati.
The IWT department has also constructed a RCC jetty on the 11 nos of floating restaurants (A/C & Non A/C) on board of IWT vessels and three river cruise services on the river Brahmaputra. The department has also constructed 7 nos of 25 m long Single Decker floating terminal at north bank and 2 nos of 28 m long Double Decker floating terminal at the south bank of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati under centrally sponsored scheme.
Postal Communication
The Assam Postal Circle has a network of 4,011 post offices (as on March, 2016) out of which 3,725 post offices are located in rural areas. On an average, each post office serves a population of 22,577 persons and covers 19.54 sq km areas. There are 3 Night Post Offices also functioning in the State located at Guwahati GPO, Dibrugarh HO and Silchar HO for convenience of the people. In addition, there are 353 modernised post offices and 634 computerised post offices in the State. Apart from the above, there are 4 National Speed Post Centre and 16 Speed Post Centre in the State and Postal Mail Conveyance covers 4,428 railway km.
The Circle is utilising services of Indian Airlines & Jet Airways for transmitting outward airmails from all the Air Centres of the region. In respect of transmission of local mails to all District Headquarters except Marigaon and Dhemaji, service of ASTC and Private Night Super Buses are utilised. The traditional Money Order service has been upgraded and re-introduced as e-MO for speedy delivery with the same tariff.
Telecommunication
Telephone : Assam Telecom Circle, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is the largest telecom operator in Assam which was formed in 1987, providing comprehensive range of telecom services in the State. BSNL is reaching the nook and corner of Assam with focused development thrust. At present 577 telephone exchanges functioning in the State. (As on March 2016)
| Telecom Facilities in Assam | |||
| Item | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
| Direct Exchange lines | 1463773 | 1427318 | 1503449 |
| Rural Telephone Connections | 459014 | 449347 | 482397 |
| Village Public Telephone (VPTs) | 24692 | 24692 | 24663 |
| Total Telephones | 15462192 | 16611629 | 17318325 |
| Tele density Phones per 100 of persons Ru 31.13 Public call officers | 48.74 Ur.126.27 Ru 37.41 11207 | 51.90 Ur.129.05 Ru 34.69 10350 | 53.95 Ur.132.26 Ru 39.18 8909 |