GUWAHATI: The first express highway project in the northeast region will be developed along the Brahmaputra river in Assam at an estimated investment of Rs 40,000 crore, Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari said today."Northeast is our priority. We are going to develop the first express highway of North East in Assam along the banks of Brahmaputra. This 1,300 km-long express highway is likely to incur an investment of Rs 40,000 crore," Gadakari said.Making the announcement at the closing ceremony of the 'Namami Brahmaputra' festival here, the minister requested the Assam Chief Minister to carry out land acquisition work for the modern road."The land acquisition has to be done by the state. The sand the soil coming from the dredging of Brahmaputra will be utilised for construction of the road," Gadkari said.He said that the express highway will be axis-controlled and vehicles will be able to ply at very high speed.The Centre will dredge the Brahmaputra river from Sadia in Upper Assam to increase navigational channels up to Chittagong port in Bangladesh.In Gadkari's presence, a tripartite agreement was signed for dredging and construction of the express highway in Assam.The agreement was signed between the Assam government, the National Highways Authority of India and the Inland Waterways of India.