India funding a new waterway to connect its Northeast with Bangladesh

The India government has released the first instalment of its agreed funding to open a new waterway link between its Northeastern region and Bangladesh.

The waterway is designed to facilitate the movement of people, goods and machinery and to hugely help the land-locked region, said a senior official in Agartala.

“Responding to the Tripura government's proposals to develop a waterway link between Tripura's Gomati and Howrah rivers and the Meghna river of Bangladesh, the India government’s Ministry of Water Transport and Shipping has sanctioned 125 million Indian rupees for the project. The first instalment of 20 million rupees to link the Gomati and the Meghna has been released,” said Samarjit Bhaumik, Transport Secretary of the government of Tripura.

Bhaumik told bdnews24.com: "The state government has to submit detailed project reports (DPRs) to develop waterways between the Gomati and the Howrah with the Meghna."

To expedite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Act East Policy, India is prioritising multi-modal connectivity in the northeastern region, including water connectivity.

Already sixteen waterway projects, mostly involving Bangladesh, have been approved for this region.

Earlier the state owned RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Services) had conducted a preliminary feasibility study to create a new inland water transport circuit between the Gomati and the Howrah in Tripura with the Meghna and the Titas in Bangladesh.

Four inland water routes between India and Bangladesh are currently operational—Kolkata-Pandu (in southern Assam) via Bangladesh, Kolkata-Karimganj (in southern Assam) via Bangladesh, Rajshahi (in Bangladesh)-Dhulian (in southern Assam) and Karimganj-Pandu-Karimganj via Bangladesh.

These waterways have been operational since 1972 and are renewed from time to time under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade between the two countries.