Kolkata: Boost for river cargo transport

KOLKATA: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech on Friday reaffirmed the commissioning of Haldia multi-modal terminal and Farakka navigational lock in 2019-20. The facility will increase the cargo volume on the Ganga (National Waterway 1) four times in next four years.
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) awarded the contract of the first multi-modal terminal at Haldia. The port facility that will have interface of three modes of transportation like railways, shipping and roadways will give a huge fillip in the business along this ancient riverine route. IWAI signed the contract with the infrastructure firm, ITD Cementation India Limited, to construct a Rs 517 crore state-of-the-art multi-modal terminal at Haldia.
The terminal’s cargo handling capacity will be 3.18 million tonnes per annum. The terminal will be used to transport coal, fly ash, chemicals, petroleum and gas, construction materials, fertilizers and edible items, said IWAI sources.