Centre to invest Rs 1010 crore in Brahmaputra and Barak river projects: Sarbananda Sonowal

New Delhi, Nov 29 The Central government is set to spend at least Rs 1,010 crores on three key projects along the Brahmaputra and Barak Rivers in Assam, said Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday.

The Minister also informed about the approval of a new slipway in Majuli River Island in the state at an investment of Rs. 96.60 crores under the Sagarmala scheme. The due in-principle approval has been conveyed by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

According to Sonowal, the comprehensive development of the national waterway in the Brahmaputra River is being done with a sanctioned cost of Rs. 474 crores with an overall physical progress of 79.87 per cent till October this year.

It also includes the development of the approach road from Pandu Port terminal to NH27 and the development of a Ship Repair Facility at Pandu with an estimated cost of Rs. 388 crores, with more than 60 per cent of physical progress completed.

For the development of national waterways 16 in Barak River and Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR), the central government has sanctioned Rs. 148 crores of which more than 16 per cent of work has already progressed till October this year.

“A total of Rs 1,010 crore will be spent in these three projects along the Brahmaputra and Barak Rivers,” Sonowal said.

The Union minister further stated that among the six tourist jetties, the floating jetties at Bogibeel and Pandu are nearly 85 per cent complete.

“Four tourist jetties made of steel at Silghat, Biswanath ghat, Neamati and Guijan, the Indian Port Rail & Ropeway Construction Limited (IPRCL) has been entrusted with the project. While the construction of slipways at Dhubri and Majuli is being developed at Rs. 96.60 crores each, the proposal of construction of passenger terminal at Ghagor in North Lakhimpur, Bahari in Barpeta, Goalpara, Guijan in Tinsukia, Kurua in Darrang, Disangmukh in Sibsagar as well as at Matmora in North Lakhimpur are also under various stages of execution,” he said.

Responding to a question by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, Sonowal further said that, as part of the inland waterways infrastructure development on Brahmaputra for cargo and passenger movement and river tourism, 12 floating terminals, two Multimodal Terminals at Pandu and Jogighopa and two permanent terminals at Bogibeel and Dhubri.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is also tasked to maintain a fairway with the required depth for the smooth sailing of cruise vessels.

Sonowal also said that an MoU was signed for “Riverine based Religious Tourism Circuit in SPV framework” among Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL), Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC), Assam Directorate of Inland Water Transport (IWT).

“This project is aimed at connecting several religious places of worship through waterways by deploying appropriate capacity of vessels on a ‘Hop On and Hop Off’ basis. These seven sites are Kamakhya Temple, Pandunath Temple, Ashwaklanta Temple, Doul Govinda Temple, Umananda Temple, Chakreshwar Temple and Auniati Satra,” he added.