Earlier we discussed the national waterway 5. It seems finally the state government has woken up and ready to do its part. Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Plans are afoot to develop a national waterway (NW-5) connecting the Brahmani and Mahanadi with the now-defunct East Coast Canal of the British days, extending up to Geonkhali in Bengal, at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore.

As a follow-up measure, the Orissa government today set up a task force, headed by the development commissioner and secretaries of water resources, commerce and transport, forest and environment and revenue departments, to work out an action plan.

… The proposed waterway is being seen as an alternative to the congested rail and road routes.

An estimated 18.07 million tonnes of inland water transport traffic is expected to be carried out on the waterway in the 10th year of its commissioning, said commerce and transport secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.

Cargo, such as coal, fertiliser, cement, iron ore, paddy, rice, seeds, coconut, wheat, sugar, edible oils, bamboo, straw, jute and industrial products may be transported through the route.

The proposed waterway includes a 91km stretch in Bengal (Geonkhali to Nasirabad), while the rest (532km) would be in Orissa.

A bill was introduced in Parliament on December 8, 2006, for the declaration of the Talcher-Dhamra stretch of the Brahmani-Kharsuan-Dhamra rivers, Geonkhali-Charbatia stretch of the East Coast Canal, Charbatia-Dhamra stretch of the Matai and the Mahanadi delta rivers between Mangalgadi and Paradip as national waterways.

… Preparation of the detailed project report has been entrusted with the Gurgaon-based Wapcos (India) Limited, while the preparation of the final report is underway.

Similarly, environmental impact assessment study and preparation of environment management plan are also on, Mohapatra said.

New Delhi-based CES (India) Private Limited submitted the final draft report of the environmental impact study to the Union government last year.

While the Union government would be funding the project, the state government will provide the required land, free of cost.

The land acquisition process and rehabilitation of people living along the 100m wide corridor is to be initiated by the government, besides providing technical details and data to consultants for completing the detailed project report.

The major works include construction of four barrages at an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore, renovation of 217km East Coast Canal, widening of narrow canals, modification of bridges and roads, bank protection and setting up four terminals at Talcher, Balasore, Nasirabad and Rajnagar.

The minimum bed width and depth of the waterway (for 406 river delta portion) will be 45m and 2m respectively to handle vessels of 500tonnes carrying capacity.

In the first phase, the bed width and depth for the 217km East Coast Canal portion will be 32m and 1.5m respectively for vessel size of 200 tonnes.