Three water transport projects in northeast completed

Three inland water transport (IWT) projects in the northeast have been completed with 100 percent subsidy from the central government, DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the minister for Development of North Eastern Region said that three of five IWT projects have been completed in the states of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram.

Construction of 17-metre-long floating terminals at 20 banks on the Brahmaputra river was completed at a cost of Rs.4.50 crore in 2014.

In Mizoram, the development of Tlawng river for inland water transport at a cost of Rs.5.28 crore was completed in March 2013.

The Manipur government has also completed an inland water transport project on Loktak lake in March 2014, he said.

Construction of 17-metre-long floating terminal pontoons at 15 places at an estimated cost of Rs.6.07 crore has been initiated by the Assam government and the project is scheduled to be completed by December 2016, he said.

In Tripura, the state government has submitted detailed project reports for the development of IWT on rivers Gumati and Haora at costs of Rs.12.59 crore and Rs.11.19 crore, respecttively.

"The IWAI (Inland Water Authority of India) has recommended that initially the project for development of IWT in Gumti river in Tripura with a view to set up linkage with Meghna river system, Bangladesh, may be considered under new Central Sector Scheme for the development of inland water transport in northeastern states including Sikkim," the minister said.

According to him, the project will be sanctioned by the shipping ministry.

He said many other IWAI projects have been initiated in Assam -- including construction of a high-level jetty at Pandu port, construction of a roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) terminal at Dhubri and bank protection measures for the IWAI terminal area at Jogighopa.