Decks cleared for development of national waterway-5 at Rs 12K crore in Odisha

One of six primary national waterways in the country, the NW-5 will connect Mahanadi, Brahmani Delta, Matai river and East Coast Canal with the industrial belts of Kalinganagar and Talcher to provide an alternative mode of transportation. Announced in 2008, the project was proposed to span three stretches – 237 km from Talcher to Mangalgadi, 95 km from Dhamra to Paradip and 256 km from Dhamra to Geonkhali. However, it was delayed by over a decade due to a lack of patronage from various stakeholders and the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the feasibility studies and DPR submitted in 2016, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) had planned to develop the 332 km of economically and commercially viable stretches of NW-5 between Paradip, Dhamra and Talcher in two phases.

While IWAI had signed an agreement with the state government, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) and Dhamra port in 2014 for development of a 212 km stretch between Paradip, Dhamra and Pankapal (Kalinganagar) in the first phase, the 120 km stretch from Pankapal to Talcher was to be taken up in the second phase.

Sources said the project was moving at a snail’s pace as the initial plans of IWAI could not be materialised due to lack of viability. Unless the waterway is connected up to Talcher in the first phase itself, it would not be economically viable, the sources said. After several consultations, it has now been decided that the project will be implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) between the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Coal India Limited (CIL), PPT and the Odisha government.

Principal Secretary of Commerce and Transport department Usha Padhee said the earlier SPV comprising IWAI and the state government has been repurposed and the respective company boards have taken an in-principle approval to form a new SPV to take up the project. “The IWAI has finalised the study and prepared the DPR along with the detailed design and engineering of the cross structures on the waterways with the help of IIT-Madras. Once the SPV is formed, fresh bidding for different construction aspects of NW-5 will start,” Padhee said.

Meanwhile, senior officials of IWAI have discussed modalities of NW-5 at a high-level meeting chaired by chairman Vijay Kumar earlier this week. Financial analysis reports and plans for the development of the waterway were discussed with stakeholders, including the officials of the Shipping ministry.

After assuming charge, the BJP government in the state has been emphasising on expediting the pending capital-intensive and economically viable infrastructure projects.

 In June, Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo had urged the Centre to speed up the Sagarmala project, East Coast Economic Corridor and NW-5 during the pre-budget meeting at New Delhi.