In a view to promote water transport in the North East region of the country, Indian government's cabinet has approved a bill for declaring the Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of 121 kilometres of the Barak River as a national waterway.
The government also gave its approval for preparation of projects and schemes for development of infrastructure facilities on this stretch of the river at an estimated cost of USD22.44 million with implementation in two phases.
The first phase of the project would be completed by 2016-17 followed by the second phase which is likely to be completed by 2018-19.
"The approval as national project will result in unified development of the waterways for shipping and navigation and transportation of cargo to the North Eastern Region particularly in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh," India's Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
The project will be developed by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under IWAI Act, 1985.
The Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of the Barak River is set to be the sixth National Waterway.
So far the Indian government has declared five waterways as National Waterways, which includes the 1,620 kilometre Allahabad-Haldia stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system; the 1,078 kilometre Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of the canal along with designated stretches of Godavari and Krishna Rivers; the 891 kilometre Dhubri-Sadiya stretch of Brahmaputra River; the 588 kilometre designated stretches of East Coast Canal, Brahmani River and Mahanadi Delta; and the 205 kilometre Kottapuram-Kollam stretch of the West Coast Canal along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals.
Jagdish Kumar
Image Source: Abymac