13th NLA session: Four National Waterways identified in the state

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Sep. 20 (EMN): Four rivers in Nagaland have been identified by the International Waterways Association as national waterways (NW) in the state, P Paiwang Konyak, Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation and Railways stated on Tuesday.

The national waterways are NW-30 Dhansiri/Chate River, NW-31Dikhu River, NW-32 Doyang River and NW-101 Tzu-Sungki River.

Konyak said this in a reply to a starred question by MLA Yitachu, during the 12th session of 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) in Kohima.

He said that initially, Nagaland Inland Waterways Board (NIWB) had taken up Tizu-Zungki River due to its ‘uniqueness’. It is the only east flowing river in the state which drains into Myanmar and ultimately joins Chindwin River.

He assured that the proposed waterway is in line with the Act East policy of the government of India.

Konyak added that the board will examine the feasibility of the other rivers for inland waterway transport and take it up in a phased manner.

The minister said that since Tizu-Zungki River has been identified as NW- 101 by IWAI, the state government has been pursuing with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways for the development of the river as an inland waterways corridor.

The length of the proposed waterway is 42 km, which starts from Longmatra under Kiphire district and terminates at Avangkhu, an international trade centre under Phek district, he said, adding that the detailed project report (DPR) was prepared by M/S WAPCOS and has been finalised by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

As per the advice of the Ministry, NIWB has been constituted, headed by the minister of Transport as the chairperson and chief secretary as the co-opted chairperson. As suggested by the Ministry, it was decided by the government of Nagaland that the project will be implemented by the NIWB, he stated.

Konyak further said that the Ministry had advised the state government to submit the project proposal with respect to the NW-101 recently.

He shared that during the last NIWB meeting held on March 31, 2022, the board decided to depute a team of officials from the Transport department to IWAI office, Guwahati to seek technical assistance for the preparation of the project proposal.

On the inputs given by IWAI office, Guwahati, the department then prepared the project proposal and submitted the same on July 12, 2022, whereby the proposal is under consideration by the Ministry, he added.