Nat Waterway-1 to drive eco benefits 4 states

Development works on National Waterways-1 is expected to drive economic growth and create jobs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, government said today.
The development of inland water transport is one of the major endeavours of the Shipping Ministry and the Phase-1 of Jal Marg Vikas project will cover Haldia-Varanasi stretch, it said.
The project includes development of fairway, multi-modal terminals at Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj, strengthening of river navigation system, conservancy works, Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night navigation facilities, construction of state of the art navigational lock at Farakka, etc, the ministry said in a press release.

"This Project is expected to facilitate navigation of commercial vessels with the capacity of 1,500-2,000 tonnes. It has been taken up with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank," it said.
In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 50,000 new jobs are expected to be generated, whereas it has also been assessed that the overall investment will lead to direct and indirect employment of more than 50,000 persons in Bihar.
In the case of West Bengal, the Jal Marg Vikas project is expected to create around 56,000 jobs, while close to 5,000 jobs are expected to be created in Jharkhand.

A detailed feasibility report (DFR) on the Jal Marg Vikas Project has been prepared by reputed national & international consultants.

According to the DFR, this project will help in the de-siltation of the river and will improve the water flow through scientific dredging allowing navigable depth up to 2.3 to 3 meters over a width of 45 meters, it said.
In this project there will be no need to construct barrages on this stretch of National Waterway-1 also.
The consolidated environment impact assessment report has not indicated any adverse impact on the ecology of the river due to this project, making this project feasible from the environment perspective, the Ministry added.