Transforming the Brahmaputra river into an economic corridor

Efforts that are underway in India transform the Brahmaputra river into a multi-functional economic corridor received a boost this week, according to www.indiashippingnews.com, as India’s minister for ports, shipping and waterways, Mr Sarbananda Sonowal, led an initiative to combine transport, trade, tourism and river management.

A meeting of the Brahmaputra Board in Guwahati, the capital of the northeastern Indian federal state of Assam, saw ministers, experts and federal state representatives analyse measures to strengthen planning, flood control and the sustainable utilisation of water resources in the river basin and in the entire northeast of the country. The meeting underlined the importance of adopting technologies such as Gis, Lidar and hydrological modelling for these efforts.

Link the Brahmaputra to Indian maritime ports

Minister Sonowal said that “the heart of the strategy envisages recognising the Brahmaputra not merely as a river, but as a national asset that can drive connectivity and economic growth in the entire northeastern region.”

The Inland Waterways Authority of India is already working towards realising the true potential of the Brahmaputra, a part of which has already been declared Indian ‘National Waterway 2’, the report continued. The river provides a vital inland transport corridor linking Assam and the other parts of the northeast, to the Indian maritime ports of Kolkata and Haldia, through the ‘Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route’. This, the minister pointed out, “revives a sustainable, economic and efficient mode of transport.”