Gadkari likely to kick-start work of IWAI terminals at Haldia

Union minister Nitin Gadkari is expected to kick-off the construction work of Inland Waterways Authority of India's multi-modal terminal at Haldia in West Bengal on March 23.

"Gadkari (Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources) is expected to lay foundation stone for the multi-modal terminal at Haldia, and the new navigational lock gate and River Information System (RIS) at Farraka," a senior official of IWAI told PTI.

The minister will also flag-off RoRo service between Kolkata and Howrah on NW-1, the official said.

The modern RIS will work similar to an air traffic control, for monitoring the waterways on real-time basis, officials said.

The entire infrastructure for National Waterways-1 will be ready by the end of 2019 as scheduled, IWAI vice-chairman Paravir Pandey said.

The IWAI is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project for augmenting the navigation capacity of NW-1 from Haldia to Varanasi at a cost of Rs 5,369 crore, with technical and financial support of the World Bank.

Meanwhile, Shipping Secretary Gopal Krishna today flagged off two tug-barge flotilla for NW-1, in line with the Centre's efforts to augment navigation capacity of the country's waterways.

The high-power tug has twin propeller, 14-ton bollard pull and two dumb barges of 1,000 ton capacity each.

The barge has been procured at a cost of Rs 16.24 crore, and will help in meeting fly-ash from NTPC's Kahelgoan plant to Bangladesh, the officials said.

Krishna later met West Bengal Chief Secretary Moloy De, and during discussions, a river bank protection plan was mooted jointly by IWAI, Kolkata Port Trust and the state government, they said.