Indo-Bangla Waterway Project to Operationalize Soon

TripuraChief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb is keen to operationalize the Indo-Banglawaterway project as soon as possible as it could be a game changer in thestates communication system.

According toofficials, the proposed waterway project will connect Tripura's Gomati Riverwith Meghna River of Bangladesh to get access to Ashuganj port of theneighbouring country.

It has beensaid that at present, ships and steamers ply from Haldia in West Bengal toDawodkandi in Bangladesh which is 80km from Tripura's Sonamura sub-division inSepahijala district.

TransportSecretary L Darlong said that the Chief Minister was briefed about the report ofthe Joint Technical Committees finding on the 15-km inland waterway project ata meeting on Tuesday. The report suggested dredging work on a 15-km stretch tooperationalize the proposed waterway.

The officialfurther informed that of the 15 kilometres, around 13 kilometres need to bedredged on the Bangladesh side and the rest on the Indian part to allowsmall-medium sized vessels.

Darlong furtherstated that the report of the Joint Technical Committee was based on thehydrographic study carried out on March 12 and 13.

After theTripura CM has been briefed about the project, he asked the transportdepartment to hold a meeting with the Inland Waterways Authority of India(IWAI) to give a big push to the ambitious waterway project. The transportsecretary further said that he will take up the issue with the IWAI to get theproject done at the earliest.

Darlong alsoreiterated that since the state has limited resources, they are of the opinionthat the Centre must come forward to incur the expenditure to undertake thedredging.