New Delhi, November 21 (IANS). According to Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, the significant growth of 767 per cent in operated waterways, 635 per cent in cargo volume, 233 per cent in investment and 62 per cent in multimodal terminals reflects the extraordinary progress in the inland waterways sector.
Union Minister Sonowal in his address at the North East Oil and Gas Conclave 2025 said, “Under the leadership of PM Modi, with a new focus on Inland Water Transport (IWT), cargo movement has become easier and faster and logistics costs have come down. Also, a reliable multimodal network has been provided for the movement of petroleum products and industrial cargo across the Brahmaputra and Barak river systems.”
He said that the annual cargo movement on NW-2 is now reaching about 6 lakh tonnes. Commenting on this development, he said, “The inland waterways sector has today emerged as the backbone of energy transportation of the North East, strengthening India’s energy security and opening doors to new trade routes.”
Giving information, the Union Minister said that during the India Maritime Week 2025, the Inland Waterways Authority of India signed MoUs worth Rs 40,000 crore to increase the efficiency of waterways logistics.
The Union Minister said the government has initiated interland waterways projects worth Rs 1,000 crore in the last two years in the North-East, including permanent cargo terminals, ship repair facilities, tourist jetties and urban water transport systems.
He further said that a Rs 239 crore ship repair facility is being constructed at Pandu, which is expected to significantly reduce the maintenance cost of river vessels, which currently go to Kolkata via Bangladesh for repairs.
Union Minister Sonowal said, “Cargo transportation on national waterways reached an all-time high of 146 million tonnes last year, whereas earlier it was only 18 million tonnes. With this, 76 national waterways will be operational by 2027.”
–IANS
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