Union Minister for Ports, Transport and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Saturday stated that there’s a mutual understanding between India and Bangladesh and agreements signed between the 2 international locations for river transportation might be honoured.
Operations alongside the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR) have been underway as typical with each international locations remaining in talks by way of diplomatic channels, Sonowal stated whereas talking at ‘The Assam Tribune-Dialogue 2024’.
“Our officers are interacting with Bangladesh authorities and the response is optimistic,” he stated.
The wealthy potential of the dynamic and complicated waterways system of the Northeast might be realised because the Ministry of Ports, Transport and Waterways (MoPSW) is actively participating with the respective state governments in addition to initiating dialogue by way of stakeholders meet, Sonowal stated.
One such meet has already taken place at Dimapur by which the Nagaland authorities participated actively whereas the subsequent was scheduled to be held at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh quickly.
“Our lovely area of the Northeast is blessed with pure bounty with a fancy and dynamic mixture of water our bodies which should be rigorously harnessed to make sure that sustainable improvement takes place within the area,” the Union minister stated.
The ministry is working in direction of organising stakeholder conferences with state governments to determine, talk about and discover prospects of waterways as a way for improvement, he added.
The ministry’s flagship programme ‘Sagarmala’ is all set to propel the nation’s maritime sector to make India one of many high world maritime powers by 2047, Sonowal stated.
“Below the dynamic management of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our ministry is upgrading our ports by way of mechanisation, modernisation and digitisation,” he stated.
Earlier than 2014, India’s maritime sector lacked an method or a imaginative and prescient however now the trouble has been to channelise our sources in direction of a port-led improvement and connectivity development, he stated.
“Our efforts are additionally geared toward improvement of the coastal group which has resulted in large response from the coastal areas of the nation,” he stated.
The Sagarmala programme, permitted by the Union cupboard in 2015, envisions a complete of 839 tasks with an estimated funding of Rs 5.79 lakh crore, and is slated for completion by 2035.
Out of those, 262 tasks, amounting to roughly Rs 1.40 lakh crore, have already been accomplished, whereas one other 217 tasks, valued at round Rs 1.65 lakh crore, are presently beneath energetic implementation.
These tasks span a number of sectors and contain the coordinated efforts of central ministries, state governments, main ports, and varied different businesses.
Talking on the potential of Brahmaputra, Sonowal stated the nodal waterways company, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), has been dredging the river and different essential channels of transportation to make sure easy transit of ferries and ships.
“We’ve got made it obligatory that the dredging work carried out by entities should usher in accountability in addition to compliance for the sleek crusing of boats and ships,” he stated.
The transit of huge vessels to Numaligarh refinery in addition to the success of world’s longest river cruise on MV Ganga Vilas from Varanasi to Dibrugarh present that the position of riverways as a viable, financial and environmentally sound mode of communication is being revived, he added.
The federal government can also be working in direction of constructing infrastructure to help this renewed thrust on waterways, Sonowal stated.
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