Trade between Bangladesh, India using inland waterways to get a boost this year
Shipping route through Bangladesh to connect India's Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal to Northeast
Trade between India and Bangladesh using inland waterways is expected to get a boost by the middle of this year when heavy cargo ships from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Haldia in West Bengal sail to Pandu port in Assam through the neighbouring country.
This was indicated by India's Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal yesterday during an interaction with the media in Guwahati, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
Sonowal said dredging work at critical junctures in the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers has already been initiated by his ministry to facilitate the movement of large cargo ships.
The Bangladesh government, with support from the Indian government, is working on a stretch of the Jamuna river to make the 2,000km llong waterway from Sadiya in Assam to Haldia in West Bengal through the neighbouring nation, a smooth passage, he said.
"We are working to connect (Indian states of) Mizoram, Tripura, and Assam to three strategic ports -- Sittwe in Myanmar and Mongla and Chattogram in Bangladesh," the Minister said.
"By mid-2022, I am hopeful that cargo ships of 2,000 metric tonnes from Haldia and Varanasi will start sailing to Pandu. This is going to be a major boost to trade and industry of the North-eastern region," Sonowal said.
He said the waterways of the northeastern Indian region and connecting them to major ports in the Bay of Bengal will not only unlock the economic potential of the region but allow the landlocked region direct access to international trading routes.
Support from experts in Tezpur University in Assam, Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati and Indian Institute of Management in Shillong will be sought to make the dredging work successful in the Brahmaputra, the minister said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed the authorities concerned to make arrangements to dredge a stretch of 2-2.5 metre in the two rivers so that cargo vessels, passenger ships, and even seaplanes can use the water bodies, according to Sonowal.