Guwahati, 14th of September, 2024 : The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal exuded confidence on the continuous operation of Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR) as both the countries remain in talks via diplomatic channels. Sarbananda Sonowal was talking at ‘The Assam Tribune Dialogue, 24’ here today.
The Union Minister also assured that the rich potential of dynamic and complex waterways system of the Northeast will be realised as the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW) are actively engaging with the respective State Governments as well as initiating dialogue via Stakeholders Meet. Sarbananda Sonowal said that one such Meet has already taken place at Dimapur where the State Government of Nagaland participated actively. The next such meet is slated to be held at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh soon.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Our beautiful region of the Northeast is blessed with natural bounty with complex and dynamic mix of waterbodies. This needs to be carefully harnessed to ensure that sustainable development takes place in the region. To this end, our ministry is working towards organising stakeholder meets with state governments to identify, discuss and explore possibilities of waterways as a mean for development. We recently had a very fruitful discussion at Dimapur where the possibilities of Tizu Zunki river was discussed for the development of Nagaland. We are planning to organise the next meeting at Itangar in Arunachal Pradesh soon.”
India’s Shipping Minister also said that the MoPSW’s flagship programme ‘Sagarmala’ is all set to propel country’s maritime sector to make India as one of the Top Global Maritime powers by 2047.
Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, our ministry is upgrading our ports via mechanisation, modernisation and digitisation. Before 2014, India’s maritime sector lacked an approach or a vision. Today, I am happy to inform you that this has been turned around for good as our effort has been to channelise our resources and effort towards a port led development including port led connectivity advancement. Our efforts are also aimed at empowering the coastal community development which has resulted tremendous response from the coastal areas of our country.”
The Sagarmala program, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2015, envisions a total of 839 projects with an estimated investment of ₹5.79 lakh crore, slated for completion by 2035. Out of these, 262 projects, amounting to approximately ₹1.40 lakh crore, have already been completed, while another 217 projects, valued at around ₹1.65 lakhcrores, are currently under active implementation. These projects span multiple sectors and involve the coordinated efforts of central ministries, state governments, major ports, and various other agencies, reflecting a comprehensive approach to transforming India’s maritime infrastructure.
Speaking on the potential of Brahmaputra, the Union Waterways Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Our nodal waterways agency, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), has been dredging the river Brahmaputra and other important channels of transportation to ensure smooth transit of ferries and ships. We have made it mandatory that the dredging work performed by entities must attain assured draft which is its targeted draft. This is important to bring in accountability as well as compliance for smooth sail of boats. With the transit of large ODC & OWC to Numaligarh Refinery as well as the success of world’s longest river cruise on MV Ganga Vilas from Varanasi to Dibrugarh, the role of river ways as a viable, economic and environmentally sound mode of communication is being revived. The government is working towards building infrastructure to support this renewed thrust on waterways. In order to ensure the waterways potential as a bulwark of sustainable development, many policy related development have also taken place like Indian Vessels Act. We continue to pursue to smoothen the route for the Indian maritime sector to set sail for the ultimate objective of becoming World’s top maritime country by 2047 – the vision of Prime MInister Shri Narendra Modi ji.”
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