New Delhi, Sept. 30 -- India announced on Monday that it will build the first two cross-border railway links with Bhutan at a cost of Rs.4,033 crore, with the project being seen as part of New Delhi's efforts to bolster regional connectivity to drive economic integration and trade. The rail links - between the Bhutanese cities of Gelephu and Samtse and Kokrajhar in Assam and Banarhat in West Bengal respectively - will entail the construction of 90km of railway lines and the work is expected to be completed in the next four years, railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and foreign secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing. Gelephu is the site for an autonomous economic hub with executive and legislative powers and an independent judiciary that was initiated by Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. The Bhutan government has plans to forge extensive economic and other links between Gelephu and South Asia and the Indian government has conveyed its support for the flagship initiative. Bhutan is also developing an industrial hub in Samtse. The two new rail links will give Bhutan access to India's extensive railway network and facilitate the transit of goods to sea ports and to third countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh. The project is also being seen as India's answer to China's efforts to forge railway connectivity with countries in the region, people familiar with the matter said. "India is the largest trading partner of Bhutan and most of the export-import trade of Bhutan is done through Indian ports. Therefore, it becomes very important to have good seamless rail connectivity for the Bhutanese economy to grow and for the people to have better ways of access to the global network," Vaishnaw said....