Presentation made at 3rd Northeast Connectivity Summit,2016 on Connecting NE through IWTby Mr.Alok Ranjan,Member(Finance),IWAI

1. 1
CONNECTING NORTH EAST THROUGH
IWT
DEVELOPMENT OF IWT IN NORTH EAST
Sept, 2016

2. Benefits of IWT for NER
2
• A cost effective & environment friendly mode
• Best suited for bulk goods, ODC, Project cargo & hazardous
goods
• IWT offers shorter, alternative route to Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
• Provides port- hinterland connectivity to entire region with
Kolkata – Haldia
• River Brahmaputra & Barak offers immense scope for
development of ‘river cruise’ & ‘eco-tourism’ in NE

3. 3
150
500
4000
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Road Rail IWT
Fuel efficiency: One HP moves
Kgs
Road
Rail
IWT
24
85
105
0
40
80
120
Road Rail IWT
One liter of fuel moves
(T-km)
Road
Rail
IWT
5.2
2.5
1
0
2
4
6
Road Rail IWT
Operatingcost(internationallevel)
Cents/Tkm
Road
Rail
IWT
IWT-A cost effective mode of
transportation

4. Development Status of Waterways in
NER
4
 River Brahmaputra-NW-2: Covers hinterland of Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya & Nagaland
 River Barak (Lakhipur to Bhanga-121 km ) - NW-16
connects NER with Kolkata through Indo-Bangladesh
protocol route. Covers hinterland of Manipur, Mizoram
and Tripura in addition to Assam.
 Indo- Bangladesh Protocol routes (1700 km) provide
alternate connectivity to North East avoiding rail/road
connectivity through already congested Chicken neck link
to NE States
 106 new waterways have been declared as National
Waterways under the National Waterways Act 2016, which
includes 19 new National Waterways in North East.

5. Declared by an Act of Parliament in December
1988
5

6. 6
 Fairway (891 km )
 Dredging done departmentally with 2 CSD units and 2 HSD units
deployed in NW-2.
Stretch LAD in lean
season (Oct.-
Mar)
LAD in flood
season
(April –Sept.)
B’Border-Neamati (630 Km) 2.5 Meter 2.5 Meter
Neamati –Dibrugarh (138 Km) 2.5 Meter 2.5 Meter
Dibrugarh-Sadiya (123 km)/
Oriumghat
1.5 Meter 1.5 Meter
 Dredging and bandalling done every year between October to March
Facilities on NW-2 for IWT

7. 7
Aids to Navigation
 1002 day navigation aids are provided and maintained in entire NW-
2
 455 Night navigation aids are provided from B’Border to Silghat
(440 km)
 DGPS stations are provided at Dhubri, Jogighopa, Silghat &
Dibrugarh
 Fortnightly talweg survey through 5 survey vessels of IWAI to
identify the shoals and river notices being issued
 Besides, pilots provided to cargo vessels for assistance
day navigation marks night navigation aids
Facilities on NW-2 for IWT

8. 8
 Terminals
 Pandu has been developed as a IWT based transportation hub for
multimodal connectivity in the NER
 11 Floating terminals at Hatsingmari,Dhubri, Jogighopa, Tejpur,
Silghat, Biswanthghat, Neamati, Bogibeel, Dibrugarh, Sengajan &
Oriumghat are being maintained with pontoon and bamboo gangway
 Floating terminal can be provided at other locations on need basis
8
BG Siding at PanduLow Level Jetty at
Pandu
Tejpur terminal Silghat terminal Oriumghat terminal
High Level Jetty
at Pandu

9. 9
 Ship Repair facility(Slipway) at Guwahati (Pandu)
 Work awarded on 01.01.2016
 Construction work in progress, 13% physical progress is achieved.
 Work is to be completed by Dec.2018

10. Transport route to adjacent location from
Hatsingmari
10

11.  Ro- Ro facility at Dhubri and Hatsingimari (opposite bank) are to
be provided to reduce travel time of vehicles between Meghalaya
and Dhubri in Assam which now have to go over Jogighopa bridge
(220 km)
 Construction of Dhubri terminal is in progress and 94% progress
has been achieved.
 Construction of Hatsingimari terminal could not be taken up due
to severe erosion at the terminal site
 Brahmaputra Board has taken up anti-erosion works at this
location
 Construction of Permanent Terminal at Hatsingimari can be
taken up only after anti-erosion works are completed by
Brahmaputra Board
 Temporary arrangement for Ro-Ro operation has been made by
IWAI to facilitate Ro-Ro operations between Dhubri and
Hatsingimari 11
Ro-Ro terminal at Dhubri &
Hatsingmari

12. New National Waterways in NER
12
19 rivers of NER has also been included in the list as per
details below.
 Arunachal Pradesh - 1No- Lohit
Assam -11No- Aai,Barak,Beki,Dhansiri,
Dehing,Dikhu,Doyans,
Gangadhar,Kopili,Putimari and
Subansiri
 Meghalaya - 5No- Ganol,Jinijiram,Yanshi,
Simdang and Umngot
Mizoram - 1No - Tlwang
Nagaland - 1 No – Tizu
Process for preparation of TEF/DPR of these waterways are
underway

13. Indo-Bangladesh Protocol
13
INDO – BANGLADESH
PROTOCOL ROUTES
B A N G L A D E S H
M E G H A L A Y A
MANIPUR
MIZORAM
TRIPURA
HALDIA
KOLKATA
DHUBRI
PANDU
JOGIGHOPA
SHISHUMARA
DHULIAN
KARIMGANJ
RAJSHAHI
NARAYANGANJ
DHAKA
LAKHIPUR
Bay of Bengal
31
DISPUR
40
51
SHILLONG
54
AIZWALAGARTALA
37
37
44
53
BAGHABARI
CHILMARI
BAHADURABAD
SIRAJGANJ
ZAKIGANJ
FENCHUGANJ
SHERPUR
MARKULI
AJMIRIGANJ
BHAIRAB
BAZAR
CHANDPUR
BARISAL
KAUKHALI
MONGLA
KHULNA
CHALNA
NAMKHANA
GODAGARI
ARICHA
ASHUGANJ
Myanmar (Burma)
IMPHAL
KOHIMA
NAGALAND
53
34
35
2
6
41
31
Legend
Kolkata - Guwahati/Pandu ...... 1535 km
Kolkata - Karimganj...................1318 km
Dhulian-Rajshahi...........................78 km
Protocol route distances
N
BHANGA
AKHAURA
DAIKHAWA
Legend
Declared National waterway
Proposed National waterway
Protocol route
Road
Rail
NH 51
ANGTIHARA
SYLHET
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
AGARTALA
13
Back
13

14. Indo-Bangladesh Protocol
14
Description:
• Indo- Bangladesh Trade & Transit Protocol exists to facilitate
movement of cargo from Kolkata / Haldia to Karimganj/ Silghat
in NER and vice versa
• The designated inland water routes in India side under this
protocol are (i) Kolkata-Silghat – Kolkata, (ii) Kolkata –
Karimganj – Kolkata, (iii) Rajshahi – Dhulian, Rajshahi and (iv)
Silghat – Karimganj – Silghat.
• For inter-country trade, five ports of call have been designated in
each country. These are: Haldia, Kolkata, Pandu, Karimganj and
Silghat in India and Narayanganj, Khulna, Mongla, Sirajganj and
Ashuganj in Bangladesh.
• The Protocol is valid till June 2020.

15. Indo-Bangladesh Protocol
15
Issues:
• Need to develop Protocol routes in Bangladesh with equivalent
LAD as available in Indian side i.e. 2.5m
• For regular cruise and passengers movement between India &
Bangladesh_ Proposal is under process.

16. Connectivity with Chittagong port
16
• Access to Chittagong port of Bangladesh set to change EXIM cargo
transport pattern in NER as well as Bhutan
• On June 6, during the visit of Prime Minister of India to Dhaka, India
and Bangladesh inked the agreement on Coastal Shipping for two-way
trade through ports; renewed the 1972 Protocol on Inland Waterways
Transit and Trade (PIWTT) for using their waterways for commerce;
and signed an MoU for use of Chittagong and Mongla Ports for
movement of goods to and from India.
• Chittagong and Mongla ports, along with Kolkata port and Haldia dock
system, are located in the Ganga delta. According to the agreement, the
two Bangladesh ports can be used by India to ship goods to its
landlocked states in the northeast - to Agartala in Tripura, to Dawki in
Meghalaya or to Sutarkandi in Assam - either through waterways, rail or
road.
• Bangladesh will also get transit through India into Nepal and Bhutan,
according to the renewed Bilateral Trade Agreement inked in 1972. This
also gives a fillip to connectivity in the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal
sub-regional grouping of SAARC.

17. Trade to Agartala via Mongla and Ashuganj
17
• FCI had ferried 35,000
tonnes of rice in 2014 &
2015 to Tripura from Vizag
and Kolkata via Bangladesh
• Agartala from Kolkata is
1,600 km by road and
2,640 km from New Delhi,
while the distance between
Agartala and Kolkata is just
about 620 km and 2,085
km from New Delhi via
Bangladesh.
•The waterway movement
from Mongla to Ashuganj
(Brahmanbaria,
Chittagong) has a draft of
3.8 m. Hence, it becomes
commercially attractive to
use small and low draft
vessel from Kolkata to

18. Bhanga
Badarpur
Silchar
 Stretch: Lakhipur- Bhanga
 Length: 121 Km
 Development cost -Rs 141 Cr

19. Development of River Barak
19
 Development proposed in two phase
 Silchar to Bhanga (70KM) in phase-I and Silchar to
Lakhipur in phase-II
 EPC tender for phase-I invited for dredging & fairway
maintenance with a LAD of 2 m along with
navigational aids.
 EPC tender for up gradation of existing terminal at
Karimganj & Badarpur and for development of new
terminal at Silchar will be invited by Nov 2016

20. Development of River Barak
20
 Strategic Benefits
 Distance advantage over other modes of
transportation to NE Region
 Higher unit capacity per unit fuel consumption of IWT
vis-à-vis road.
 Pollution levels created by IWT for moving a unit
quantity are much less when compared to road.
 Port- hinterland Connectivity
 Environment Friendly and Safe Mode

21. Central Sector Scheme for NER
21
Under a Central Sector Scheme, Ministry of Shipping
provides 100% grant to NE States for IWT infrastructure
development
The projects are implemented by Govt. of Tripura
 One project for preparation of DPR for Gumti & Haora rivers
in Tripura was sanctioned at a cost of Rs.0.83Cr and
completed in April 2015
 Another project for development of Gumti & Haora rivers in
Tripura linkage with Meghna river system in Bangladesh was
sanctioned at a cost of Rs.12.59Cr in Nov 2015 & Rs.2.00Cr
released to Govt. of Tripura.
 IWAI is providing necessary assistance as and when required
by the State Govts to prepare projects under this scheme.

22. Benefits of IWT for Tripura
22
 Development of IWT should not be viewed from
considerations of commercial viability alone.
 The benefits to the economy and the people of this area at
large are equally important considerations.
 The security benefits like connecting to Tripura with rest of
India, socio-economic benefits and environmental benifits
can be achieved through this project.
 Development of IWT may benefits the people of Atharamura
& Longtharai on the NE boundary of South Tripura district
and Sonamura sub division across the Bangladesh border.
 The export cargo (i.e rubber, orange, rice and tea products)
from Tripura to Bangladesh and other nearby areas in
Tripura may be increased.

23. Kaladan Multimodal Project
23Sittwe
Bay of Bengal
Myanmar
I N D I A
Kolkata Sittwe 539 km Sea
Sittwe Paletwa 158 km IWT
Paletwa Kaletwa 67 km Road
Kaletwa Myeikwa
(IM Border)
62 km Road
Myeikwa (IM
Border)
Lawngtlai 100 km Road
Lawngtlai Aizwal 334 km Road
Kolkata Aizwal 1260 km
Paletwa
Kaletwa
Myeikwa (IM Border)
Kyauktaw
Lawngtlai

24. Kaladan Multimodal Project
24
• Objective of the project is to provide an alternate connectivity to
North East through Kaladan river & Sittwe port in Myanmar
• Project funded by MEA – total project cost could be of over
Rs.2500 crore
• Multi modal project: Road- IWT- Sea
• IWAI as PDC for IWT and Port Component
• M/s Essar Projects appointed by MEA as main contractor for port
& IWT components
• Cost of work (IWT & Port): Rs 342 crore
• Physical progress of 94% has been achieved; likely completion
Nov 2016
• Road part from Paletwa to Indian Boarder in Mizoram is being
looked after by IRCON

25. 25

26. Trade to Agartala via Chittagong & Ramgarh
26
• Ramgarh and Sabroom are
the proposed land ports on
Bangladesh and India side
respectively.
• Once this LCS is developed
it would be shortest route
to reach India via
Chittagong.
• World Bank is funding
development of road
infrastructure from
Chittagong Port to
Ramgarh in Bangladesh.
• It is estimated to take 6 to
7 years for the
development of Ramgarh
LCS.
• Once Ramgarh LCS
becomes operational, it will
substantially reduce the
overall logistics cost.

27. Trade to Agartala via Chittagong and Ashuganj
27
• Good road connectivity from
Chittagong to Ashuganj via
NH-1, Bangladesh
• Indo-Bangla Coastal Trade -
opens a new opportunity by
improving the utilization of
Indian Ports and helps in
decongestion of road
especially at Indo-Bangla
Border
• Vessels take 30hour
steaming time to reach from
Chittagong to Ashuganj
(Brahmanbaria, Chittagong).