Guwahati (Assam0, May 19: The Centre will pump ₹4,800 crore into Brahmaputra waterways over the next five years, aiming to convert the river into the Northeast’s trade and tourism backbone, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said Tuesday.
Speaking at the High-Powered Review Board meeting of the Brahmaputra Board in Guwahati, Sonowal laid out an integrated strategy that ties transport, trade, tourism, and scientific river basin management. “The Brahmaputra is emerging as an economic lifeline for the Northeast. Inland waterways offer an environmentally sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective mode of transportation that can transform connectivity and commerce in the region,” he said.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India is developing the Brahmaputra as National Waterway-2 to strengthen cargo and passenger links through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route to Kolkata and Haldia ports. Projects worth ₹751 crore are already complete in Assam, including terminals at Pandu, Dhubri, and Jogighopa, plus floating jetties and upgraded shore facilities.
Another ₹1,100 crore worth of work is underway on fairway development, ship repair hubs, tourist jetties, and a Regional Centre of Excellence in Dibrugarh. The new ₹4,800 crore plan will fund community jetties, cruise terminals, dredgers, cargo vessels, and urban water transport to boost last-mile links in riverine areas.
Sonowal called for integrated river basin management that blends flood control, dredging, erosion checks, and infrastructure with ecological safeguards. He urged combining the Northeast’s traditional water practices with Geographic Information System mapping, Light Detection and Ranging surveys, and digital monitoring.
Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Paatil, northeastern state ministers, and senior Brahmaputra Board officials attended the review.
