North-East: Trial run on Indo-Bangladesh inland waterway route will be in the first week of September. The waterway is also known as the Sonamura-Daudkandi inland waterways protocol route. Chief Minister of Tripura, Biplab Kumar Deb made the announcement on August 24.
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has given permission for the trial run. The voyage will start from Daundkandi (Cumilla) to Sonamura via the Gomti river. The river has sufficient water for the movement of boats and small ships.
This will be a historical moment for Tripura. Tripura Chief Minister took to twitter and made the announcement.
During the trial run, a barge will be transporting 50 MT of cement from Dhaka to Sonamura. This is also the first time any kind of goods will be reaching Tripura by ship.
Tripura Chief Minister expressed his gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also thanked shipping minister Mansukh Mandavia and Bangladesh government for their cooperation.
The Sonamura-Daudkandi route was in the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) routes. In May, at Dhaka, both Riva Ganguly and Mohammad Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury signed in the protocol. Riva Ganguly Das is the High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh. Also, Mohammad Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury is the Shipping Secretary of Bangladesh.
The Sonamura-Daudkandi protocol route is about 90 kilometers. Out of the 90 kilometers, 89.5 kilometers falls in Bangladesh. Only 500 meters is under the Indian government. This is according to a survey done by the Bangladesh authorities.
Earlier last month, a floating jetty on the Gomati river was launched. It was a part of the Indo-Bangladesh international inland waterways project.
According to the plan, small boats having the capacity to carry 50 tons of goods will start moving through this route to Bangladesh. Soon, there will be setting up a temporary jetty.