Fresh DPR for Rs 5,000-cr National Waterway-5

Stress on economically viable Talcher-Dhamra stretch

After a failed bid to include the Rs 5,000-crore National Waterway (NW-5), a mega inland water transport project along the east coast canal and Brahmani-Kharsua river system under the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the Odisha government has renewed commitment to fast track the delayed project.

The state government has decided to prepare a fresh detailed project report (DPR) for the project after a meeting with a cross section of stakeholders.

“The DPR will be prepared for the entire NW-5. But we are stressing on the 323-km Talcher-Dhamra stretch because of its economic viability. We had a meeting with the representatives of World Bank and other stakeholders. The meeting was attended by officials of National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) who are going to be the beneficiaries of the project. It is not decided yet whether the waterway will be built on the PPP (public private partnership) mode,” said state chief secretary B K Patnaik.

S Dandapat, chief engineer of NW-5 project said, “The estimated cost of the waterway is Rs 5,000 crore. Of the entire 623 km length of the project, we are focusing on the 323-km Talcher-Paradeep-Dhamra stretch due to its economic viability as a lot of industries have come up in this region. Expenditure on this industrially important stretch has been estimated at Rs 3,000 crore.”

Despite being declared a National Waterway by the Government of India on November 25, 2008, Odisha did not receive any funding from the Centre under the 11th Plan. The state chief secretary's letter to the Planning Commission for inclusion of the project under the 12th Plan also went unheeded.

The waterway includes the Talcher-Dhamra stretch of Brahmani river, Geonkhali-Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia-Dhamara stretch of Matai river and Mangalgadi-Paradip stretch of Mahanadi delta rivers spanning 588 km. According to DPR prepared by Water & Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd- WAPCOS, river portion of the waterway is 371 km with the canal portion being 217 km.

Coal from Talcher to Dhamra and Paradip ports is the most important potential cargo for this waterway. It is estimated in the DPR that about 11 million tonnes of cargo can be transported per year after the development of this waterway which can go up to 23 million tonnes per annum in the next 1 year.

The proposed waterway has been categorised into three stretches- Talcher to Mangalgadi (237 km), Dhamra to Paradip (95 km) and Dhamara to Geonkhali (256 km). The Brahmani, Kharsua and Mahanadi river system mainly constitutes the river portion to be developed for the waterway.

The proposed waterway passes through major towns like Talcher, Paradip and Dhamra in the river section and Bhadrak, Balasore, Jaleswar and Haldia in the canal section.

Besides key minerals like coal and iron ore, agricultural products like paddy, rice, jute coconut and fish products as well as finished goods and manufactured items like fertilisers, cement, sugar, salt, asbestos sheets and textiles can be transported through this waterway.