In a bid to put in place an economical and
environment-friendly transport system in the state, the Odisha
government today signed an MoU with Inland Waterway Authority of India for development of National Waterways-5.
“Odisha will provide land free of cost and all possible support to fast track the project. The project is expected to be completed in three years, that is by June 2017,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.The project cost is estimated at Rs 2,000 crore.
The proposed waterway on river Brahmani and the Mahanadi delta will
link the industrial area of Kalinganagar, housing a number of steel
plants including Tata Steel’s upcoming 3 mtpa plant. The waterway will connect two ports at Paradip and Dhamra.
“Kalinganagar is likely to produce 5 mtpa steel and Talcher area to generate
about 20 million tonnes of coal if all the coal blocks become
operational. This waterway will help transport the industrial products,”
said Santosh Mohapatra, the chief of Dhamra Port Company Limited.
The first phase of 201 km connects Jokadia and Pankapal
(Kalinganagar) to Dhamra and Paradip. “The second phase is to extend to
Talcher,” said Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, Chairman Paradip Port Trust.The second phase of 131 km will thus connect Talcher to Kalinganagar.
The MoU was signed between Inland Waterway Authority Chairman Amitabh
Verma, state Commerce and Transport Secretary G Mathivathanan, Paradip
Port Trust Chairman Sudhanshu Mishra and Dhamra Port CEO Santosh
Mohapatra at the state Secretariat here in the presence of the Chief Minister.
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