Northeast India is blessed with around 1,900 kilometers of navigable waterways primarily in the Brahmaputra and the Barak Valley.
Before the partition of the country, the Brahmaputra and Barak-Surma rivers were used extensively for transport and trade between northeast India and the port of Calcutta (now Kolkata). The growth of the tea industry made these rivers important carriers of trade. The East India Company started the water route from Kolkata to Dibrugarh by the Brahmaputra in 1844 and steamships were introduced in 1847.
However, trade received a serious blow as a foreign country was carved out between Northeast India and the port of Kolkata in 1947. The port of Chittagong was also cut off by the new political barriers.
In recent times, the government has once again intended to revive the old routes of trade and commerce. The Brahmaputra (National Waterway 2) and the Barak (National Waterway 16) has several small river ports which provide ferry services at several places.
As per reports of Inland Waterways Authority of India, the amount of cargo transported along the National Waterway-2 i.e., the Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra was only 0.50 million tonnes while 6.79 million tonnes of cargo was transported through the National Waterway-1 (Allahabad- Haldia stretch) during the FY 2018-19. 48 private operators transported all types of goods from food grains to industrial equipments along that stretch.
Tea is the most prominent commodity exported by India to the rest of the world followed by coal, cement, petroleum and other products. The British had capitalized on these connected rivers of Assam and Bengal and minted huge profits by exporting tea to European countries. With a river naturally flowing downstream to the Bay of Bengal, goods can be easily moved to the major sea ports and foreign countries with great competitive advantage. The partition changed the statistics against Assam and the region was reduced to an economically disadvantageous land-locked area. Nevertheless, diplomatic ties are set to regain the cost advantage and earn foreign currency.
The India-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) Route is one such initiative of the government of Assam. This route revives the pre-partition connectivity of Haldia Port in Kolkata with Pandu Port in Guwahati via Dhubri (bordering Bangladesh) and Sirajganj in Bangladesh using the Ganga- Brahmaputra network. With all the rivers flowing downstream this route is expected to give high competitive advantage to Assam goods in foreign markets. Another route under the same arrangement connects Karimganj in Assam with Haldia Port using the Barak and Surma river network.
In May 2020, Sonamura in Agartala has been connected with the Gomati River System in Bangladesh for transportation of goods from the northeastern region.
Around 4 million tonnes of cargo was transported through the IBP route in 2019-20 but around 97% included only fly ash generated by power plants in Bihar and West Bengal which are prominently used by cement industries of Bangladesh. The IBP route connects NW-1, NW-2 and NW-16 and provides a perfect alternative to the congested Siliguri Corridor for transportation of goods. In addition to cargo movements, it also provides a beautiful opportunity for intra-state and inter-state movement of people as an alternative to motor transportation.
MV Mahabaahu had made successful voyages to and fro between Guwahati and Kolkata using the IBP routes. This route can be a perfect alternative to other modes of transportation. The success of IBP routes does not restrict Assam to the Haldia Port alone but it connects with the entire South India through inland waterways and sea ports. Another such ambitious project is the Kaladan Project connecting Mizoram with Kolkata using the river system and sea routes via Sittwe Port in Myanmar.
But the primary requirement for capitalizing on these opportunities includes developing a fairway for round the year river navigation along the protocol routes. The Brahmaputra River is one of the highest sediment carrying rivers in the country. It lifts the river bed upward at unknown locations after every flood and makes it impossible to navigate through the treacherous stretches. There is a need to dredge the river bed and maintain an adequate Least Available Depth (LAD) throughout the year. The work of dredging a stretch of Yellow River in China is a successful example of dredging a river with high siltation. China has dredged its major rivers for smooth transportation.
But the case varies vastly in case of the Brahmaputra River which is a rapid flowing river from the Himalayas and floods its banks during the monsoon. Different governments at different times had considered dredging the Brahmaputra but nothing has been done effectively.
The future of the economy of Assam lies in its capacity to dredge the Brahmaputra. It flows through the heart of the state offering the people immense opportunities of growth and prosperity. The time has come to adopt state-of-the-art technologies and start a massive project for growth and development in years ahead.
(The author is an Assistant Professor at a private university in Assam and can be contacted at amitsahaghy@gmail.com.The views expressed in the article are his own.)