Inland Waterways Authority of India officials meet in city to discuss capacity augmentation of national waterway

For this, two requirements are there- first, there should be a 3 metre depth available from Haldia to Allahabad and there should be a 45 metre width available in the river Bhagirathi-Hooghly.

This was stated by Pravir Pandey, Member, Finance, Inland Waterways Authority of India today here. According to him, this is necessary for assured movement of vessels throughout the year.

He said, since the river passes through four yet to be industriously developed once the States, namely, Uttar Pradesh Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, once the project is implemented, there will be economical development on both sides of the bank with lot of employment generation.

Pandey reiterated that the project will also help moving fertilizers upstream and downstream with 21 thermal power plants depending on coal and railways being totally  in saturated state to transport either coal or fertilizer waterways is the only option left  for transportation. Hence this has been thrusted upon in today’s meet.

Since it’s environmentally protected transportation system, in future this could be a viable means of transportation of bulk cargo he said. For waterways, it is only .25 paise per ton spent to transport bulk cargo, if it is waterways said Pandey.

The Government of India has sought the help of World Bank for this project. World Bank after going through the viability of the project has agreed to support technically and financially he said.

The initial estimate is Rs 4,200 crore which will be shared on 50-50 basis by World Bank and Government of India.

S V K Reddy , Director Inland Waterways Authority of India too spoke on the occasion and dealt in length about the entire project and today’s discussion with West Bengal Government on the same and the State Government’s interests on the same.