Improving connectivity in NE region, first ever cargo container to sail on Brahmaputra

Guwahati, November 4: Asserting Northeast as gateway of New India, the government has been focusing on improving connectivity to the North Eastern Region. In this connection, a landmark container cargo consignment has sought to sail on inland waterways from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) terminal at Pandu in Guwahati on Monday. Interestingly, this is the first ever containerised cargo movement on this Inland Water Transport (IWT) route.

 

The inland vessel MV Maheshwari carrying 53 TEUs (containers) of petrochemicals, edible oil and beverage etc., will be flagged off by Gopal Krishna, Secretary of Shipping. The 12-15 days voyage will be an integrated IWT movement via National Waterway-1 (river Ganga), NW-97 (Sunderbans), Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route and NW-2 (river Brahmaputra). The 1425 km long movement is expected to establish the technical and commercial viability of IWT mode using these multiple waterways even as a series of pilot movements are planned on the stretch.

The latest IWT movement is aimed at providing a fillip to North East Region’s industrial development by opening up an alternate route for transportation of raw material and finished goods. Taking ahead the Government’s vision of promoting IWT, the first consignment of containerized cargo on National Waterway-1 (Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system) was received by the Prime Minister on 12 November 2018 when he dedicated to the nation, the Multi Modal Terminal at Varanasi.

 

IWT on National Waterways-1 has witnessed healthy growth with the augmentation of navigation capacity of Ganga under Jal Marg Vikas Project. The traffic on NW-1 has grown from 5.48 million tonne in 2017-18 to 6.79 million tonne in 2018-19. Out of the total traffic of 6.79 million tonne on NW-1, approximately 3.15 million tonne is the EXIM trade between India and Bangladesh using the Indo Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) routes.

 

The Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) between India and Bangladesh allows mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of their waterways for movement of goods between the two countries by vessels of both countries. The Indo Bangladesh Protocol route extends from Kolkata on NW-1 to Silghat on NW-2 (River Brahmaputra) and Karimganj (Assam) on NW-16 (River Barak).

Two stretches of Bangladesh inland waterways viz. Sirajganj–Daikhawa & Ashuganj-Zakiganj on the IBP route are being developed at a total cost of Rs 305.84 Cr. on 80:20 cost sharing basis (80% being borne by India & 20% by Bangladesh). The development of these two stretches is expected to provide seamless navigation to and from North East India through waterways via the IBP route. The contracts for dredging on the two stretches have been awarded for achieving and maintaining requisite depth.