Union Minister for Shipping and Road Transport Nitin Gadkari will lay the foundation stone for the development of Ghagra river as National Waterway-40 ((NW-40) at Basti on Tuesday under the Sagarmala programme.
The 354 km stretch of waterway from Manjhighat at Ganga-Ghaghra river confluence to Faizabad/Ayodhya along Ghaghra river was declared NW-40 in 2016 as part of government’s renewed push to develop inland waterways in the country.
Together with NW-1 (on river Ganga), NW-40 will prove to be a major transport modal choice for cargo and passenger movement.
The Detailed Project Report for development of NW-40 envisages terminals at Ayodhya, Mahirpur (Tanda/Kalwari), Dohrighat, Turtipar and Manjhighat.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under the Ministry of Shipping has already initiated work in Phase-I at a cost of Rs 11.6 crore and constructed floating terminal at Tanda/Kalwari to facilitate cargo and passenger movement on Ghagra and Ganga rivers.
Under Phase-1, 2-metre draft having width of 45 metres will be constructed in addition to floating terminals through pontoon-gangway at Tanda/Kalwari and Manjhighat.
The DPR on NW-40 projects envisages movement of various categories of cargo, namely, agricultural products (rice, wheat, pulses, sugar, livestock), industrials products, coal (for Tanda power plant), coarse sand, bricks, paper products, leather and other general goods etc. through inland vessel of capacity up to 1,000 tonne.
The first phase work is scheduled to be completed by 2019-20. This waterway is being classified as class-III waterway envisaging movement of up to 1,000 ton capacity vessels.
Besides cargo and passenger movement, NW-40 will provide connectivity to tourist and pilgrimage centres along Ghagra and Ganga rivers.
Other projects under NW in Uttar Pradesh include, freight village and logistics hub and multimodal terminal at Varanasi under Jal Marg Vikas Project. The terminal is being constructed at a cost of Rs 169.70 crore, with a capacity of 1.26 MTPA and is likely to be inaugurated in November.
The terminal will boost trade via waterways with reduced logistic costs. Better connectivity to coastal regions and neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and North Eastern states through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route will help MSMEs to expand trade and commerce and also provide optimal multimodal mix.
