Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated India’s longest bridge, the Dhola Sadiya bridge, in Assam, by claiming that it was a project approved by the National Democratic Alliance in 2003, but delayed by subsequent governments.

The prime minister said that in 2003, an Assam MLA, Jagdish Bhuyan, had written to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee requesting a bridge in the region. Though this proposal was approved, the government at the Centre changed, and the the work on the bridge kept getting delayed, Modi claimed.

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“But in the last three years, the government has been working to realise Vajpayee’s dream,” Modi said. “Within on year of BJP rule in Assam, the state has gotten rid of a lot of problems.”

Bhuyan was earlier a member of the Asom Gana Parishad, but had joined the BJP in 2015.

The bridge will cut travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from six hours to just one hour by shaving 165 km off the on-road distance. This will be particularly helpful to connect Arunachal Pradesh to other parts of the country as the state has no functional airport. The bridge, Modi said, will officially be named Bhupen Hazarika bridge, after the Padma Vibhushan-winning singer from the state.

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had earlier claimed that the bring will also help military troops and artillery get to the Indo-China border quickly in times of conflict, though some have raised concerns that an airstrike could render the bridge unusable in such a situation.

The project is estimated to have cost around Rs 10,000 crore and the structure is 3.35 km longer than the Bandra-World Sea Link in Mumbai.

Inauguration of the 9.15-km-long bridge built over the Lohit river also marks the beginning of the three-year anniversary celebrations of the ruling National Democratic Alliance government. During his visit to Assam, Modi will lay the foundation stone for the Indian Agriculture Research Institute and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.