MoU signed for development of Inland Water Transport Terminal along Indo-Bangla border in Tripura
Feb 15, 2022Agartala, Feb 15: Aiming to develop the Inland Water Transport Terminal along the international border of India and Bangladesh at Srimantapur, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed on Tuesday here at Agartala state guest house in presence of the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. “If the waterway transportation system in the state is strengthened, the infrastructure development of Tripura will be enriched.
Steel and cement prices will fall. Wheat will be exported from the state as steel and cement will come to the state through Bangladesh through waterways,” said CM Biplab Kumar Deb. He said that it costs high while importing steel and cement to Tripura through Kolkata’s Haldia port, but with the launch of the waterways connecting neighbouring Bangladesh, the costs of the imported materials will gradually come down.
“Proposals have already been sent to the central government to further expand the waterway communication system in the coming days by increasing the navigability of these rivers in Howrah and Deo in the state,” Deb stated. He said that with the opening of the Chittagong port, Tripura will in fact become the provincial gateway to the Northeastern states through the Maitri Bridge and the Central and State Governments are working together in this direction. “The infrastructural development in the state would be much easier if waterways are opened on the river Gomati from Sonamura to Daudkandi in Bangladesh,” he said.
The MoU was signed between the Inland Waterways Authority of India and the Land Ports Authority of India and the Transport Department of the Government of Tripura. Recently, the Centre has sanctioned over Rs 24 crore for dredging in Gomati, a trans-boundary river between India and Bangladesh, and setting up 10 jetties for a waterway project. Of the total 93-km proposed waterway from Sonamura in Sepahijala district to Daudkandi in the neighbouring country, around 15.5-km stretch needs dredging to operationalise the route.
Most Recent
