Guwahati: Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said on Monday that the central government is going to invest Rs 5,000 crore to develop waterways and maritime infrastructure in India's Northeast region.
Declaring a media conference at Guwahati, the minister laid out an ambitious vision of major capacity augmentation, skill development programs, and strategic infrastructure developments that will look to integrate the Northeast into the national and global maritime economy.
Key highlights of the initiative include the expansion of the Maritime Skill Development Centre (MSDC) in Guwahati and the establishment of a new Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Dibrugarh with an investment of Rs 200 crore. Together, these centres are expected to generate 500 jobs annually and play a central role in training 50,000 youth from the region in world-class maritime skills over the next decade.
"Our aim is to train, enable and empower 50,000 youths of the Northeast with world-class maritime skills, with guaranteed employment and progress. Our Guwahati and Dibrugarh centres will be the pillars for this revolution," said Sonowal.
In the last two years, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has already executed projects worth Rs 1,000 crore in the inland waterways segment in the Northeast region, of which the works worth Rs 300 crore have been done. The remaining Rs 700 crore is to be executed by 2025.
Key initiatives under this investment are:
• Construction of permanent cargo terminals at Pandu, Jogighopa, Dhubri, Bogibeel, Karimganj and Badarpur.
• Year-round dredging of fairways for navigability.
• Building an approach road to Pandu Port.
• Restoration of heritage in Dibrugarh.
• Tourist jetties at a cost of Rs 299 crore.
• Building community jetties throughout the region.
• Installation of lighthouses at Bogibeel, Biswanath Ghat, Silghat and Pandu.
Feasibility reports for cruise operations from Guwahati, Tezpur and Dibrugarh have been finalized, and cruise ships are being purchased under central government programs. The government is also set to implement Water Metro projects in these cities with a modern, eco-friendly urban transport.
In an effort to improve inland water transportation (IWT) in Nagaland and Tripura, as well as Mizoram, the ministry is providing top priority to developing infrastructure and water-based tourism in these states. Implementation of the Silk Route on IBPR is likely to create new trade arteries, avoiding the Siliguri Corridor and boosting connectivity with Bangladesh and Southeast Asia.
Sonowal also gave a progress report on the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP) terming it a strategic project under the India-Myanmar Friendship Treaty. The project will be ready in full swing by 2027 and will connect the Northeast with Sittwe Port in Myanmar through inland water transport and road connectivity.
The Sittwe-Paletwa in Myanmar and Paletwa-Zorinpui in Mizoram road will open direct international trade routes. Moreover, cargo from Kolkata can travel to Sittwe and then Teknaf Port in Bangladesh, from where road connectivity reaches Sabroom in Tripura. The line is likely to bring down logistics cost and time dramatically.
The Sittwe Port will export major Myanmar export commodities such as rice, timber, seafood, petroleum products and garments, while it will import building materials such as cement, steel and bricks.
As part of an effort to enhance cargo carrying capacity, the ministry aims to deploy 100 barges owned by a global player on NW2 and NW16 by 2025. To facilitate all-year-round navigability, 10 cutter section and amphibian dredgers will be brought in, supported by an investment of Rs 610 crore.
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Sonowal also declared a Rs 300 crore project for tourism and cargo jetties at Silghat, Neamati, Biswanath Ghat and Guijan. In association with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, new lighthouses will be commissioned at Pandu, Tezpur, Biswanath and Bogibeel, each coupled with India Meteorological Department (IMD) centres to give precise local weather forecasts.
Emphasizing the change in India's maritime industry in the last 11 years, Sonowal mentioned that the nation is well on its way to becoming a global maritime power. "Major ports have almost doubled their capacity. Cruise tourism is flourishing, and Indian ports are now on par with the world, with nine of them being part of the World Bank's top 100 and Visakhapatnam Port joining the top 20," he mentioned.
By combining strategic investment, infrastructural development and human capacity building programs, the government's maritime vision for the Northeast is poised to revitalize the region as a critical node in India's maritime destiny.
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