September 5, 2020 12:58:27 pm
As Tripura opens its first inland waterway with Bangladesh from Sonamura in the Sepahijala district, along with expectations and hopes, there are also questions about the ambitious project and its commercial potential. (File photo)
As Tripura opens its first inland waterway with Bangladesh from Sonamura in the Sepahijala district, along with expectations and hopes, there are also questions about the ambitious project and its commercial potential.
The route connecting Sonamura, about 60 km from Agartala on the Indian side, and Daudkandi from Chittagong in Bangladesh was included in the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route list agreed on May 20 this year. The ambitious project has already been projected by the current BJP-IPFT government of Tripura as an important catalyst to catapult Tripura to a gateway to the northeast.
A large ship carrying 50 tonnes of cement from Bangladesh’s Munshiganj port is scheduled to arrive as part of Saturday’s test.
Tripura foreign trade
Tripura’s cross-border trade started in 1995. Currently, the state exports a handful of goods and materials worth Rs 30 crore to Bangladesh annually, but imports goods worth Rs 645 crore. This huge trade deficit is due to an abnormally high import duty apparatus in Bangladesh and the absence of many commodities abundant in the state on the list of products allowed for export, as well as port restrictions. Consecutive state governments have pushed Dhaka to smooth the flow of goods.
Earlier this year, CM Biplab Kumar Deb predicted significant growth in bilateral trade, raising the export volume from Rs 30 million to Rs 400 million, while saying that Rs 2 billion worth of goods would be imported against the current volume of Rs 645 crore in one year. . He projected that imports would grow to Rs. 4,200 crore in five years with exports reaching Rs 1,200 crore.
Now, the upcoming Agartala-Akhaura railway project, the Indo-Bangla bridge over the Feni River and a second Integrated Checkpoint (ICP) at Sabroom are also aiming to take on the amount of trade between the two parties.
Not everyone is optimistic about the prospects for the project. “Only Akhaura Integrated Check Post imports 150 times more than the commercial volume of the Sonamura pier; the state has six other land crossings. Given that the commercial volume of the waterway project would be low, there is also no massive local employment to count on. The most important thing is that the river route would not be operational throughout the year ”, reasoned Dr. Selim Shah, economist and assistant professor at the University of Tripura. However, he said, the low level of transportation may create new opportunities.
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Tripura’s first inland waterway
Shortly after Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb took office in March 2018, expert teams from the International Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) and local authorities conducted a series of visits and they studied the feasibility of launching inland waterways. connectivity on the Gomati River. The river connects to Meghna in Bangladesh through a 90 km stretch of water from Sonamura to Daudkandi.
The plan included dredging the riverbed to make way for small boats and boats from Sonamura to the Ashuganj river port in Bangladesh, 60 km away. Dredging was deemed necessary given the shallow depth of the river bed and constant sedimentation in areas where the river meanders under the hills.
The construction of a terminal building for customs control of imported goods was also planned. As the permanent jetty for loading and unloading of goods was taking too long, Tripura built a temporary floating jetty in July 2004. Much of the other infrastructure has yet to be built.
Making Gomati navigable
The Gomati River is the largest and longest river in Tripura with a cumulative length of 180 km. It is also considered a sacred river and devotees converge along its banks at Tirthmukh every Makar Sankranti.
Gomati is also a regulated river. Due to the high altitude of its upper basin and the Dumbur Dam built in 1974 as part of the Gumti hydroelectric power project, the river erodes a large amount of sand and rock particles in its upper segment. The flow slows down long after reaching the plains and at the Maharani Dam in Gomati District, a large volume of water is drawn for irrigation and retained to beautify the Dumbur Dam as a tourist spot.
A river needs at least 4-5 feet deep for freight carriers to navigate it on a regular basis. The Gomati riverbed remains navigable for less than four months a year, that too only during monsoon days. During the rest of the year, low rainfall in the hills results in low volume, while the accumulation of sediment raises the average river bed, making Gomati even shallower. By comparison, the inland waterway with Bangladesh at Karimganj in Assam operates from small ships to large ships for almost six months out of the year.
“Dredging is one way of tackling the shallow riverbed, but it will require a lot more on the actual project route. They should consider dredging to the Maharani alluvium where the sedimentation problem begins, ”explained river expert and associate professor Nibedita Das Pan from the University of Tripura. As a long-term, alternative solution, he suggested planting water-resistant vetiver grass and bamboo along its banks to prevent erosion, along with small check dams and some regulated dredging.
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