Ambitious National Waterway project approved

The Centre's ambitious 1,620km-long National Waterway-I (NW1) between Haldia and Varanasi on River Ganga was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for implementation on Wednesday. The NW1 project is part of Jal Marg Vikas Project and will cost Rs 5,369.18 crore with funding and technical support from the World Bank. It will be built as an alternative mode of transport that will provide cargo movement facilities, Roll-on Roll-off services and passenger ferry services across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Minister of Shipping Nitin Gadkari said that as per World Bank's standard procedure, 30 per cent of project work had to be awarded before obtaining its funds. So, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has awarded work of three major multi-modal terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia at a combined cost of Rs 1,354 crore. According to a government note — of the Rs 5,369 crore, Rs 2,512 crore would be obtained as a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Rs 2,556 crore would be sourced from the Central government and Rs 301 crore would be sourced under the Public-Private Partnership mode.

Big picture

• NW1 project is part of Jal Marg Vikas Project, will cost Rs 5,369.18 cr 
• MoEF flagged the issue of environmental clearance for dredging Ganga