A new hub of waterway logistics

 The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for the transportation of petroleum products from NRL to Bangladesh marks an important milestone in scaling up the utilisation of the Brahmaputra waterways (National Waterway 2). Successful implementation of the MoU will attract more industries and investors to use the national waterway to make the northeast the launch pad of international trade and commerce. The NRL plans to export 200 TMT (thousand metric tonnes) of products comprising diesel, petrol, solvent, and polypropylene per annum to Bangladesh through IWAI’s jetty in Jogighopa after commissioning of its expanded refinery and petrochemical plant. NRL's meeting the January 2025 deadline for the commissioning of the expanded refinery will be critical to achieving the targets set under the MoU with IWAI. Official data from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas shows that, until January, the overall physical progress of the project was 28.8%. Against the total approved cost of Rs 28,026 crore, actual expenditure till January 31 is Rs 7920 crore, which indicates the pace of financial progress of the refinery expansion from its current refining capacity of 3 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 9 MMTPA. The Central Government has sanctioned Rs 1020 crore as Viability Gap Funding while the remaining projects are funded through equity from the promoters (Rs 3165 crore), internal accruals (Rs 4937 crore), and commercial borrowing of Rs 18,094 crore. A petrochemical plant for an estimated cost of Rs 7,231 crore, initiated by the NRL, is also under construction. The MoU follows a previous MoU signed by the NRL with IWAI for transporting overdimensional and overweight cargo through the national waterways in 2021. The arrival of the two ODC consignments for refinery expansion work following the previous MoU through the national waterway via the Indo-Bangladesh protocol route with ODCs and OWCs lined up is also significant from the aspect of keeping the Brahmaputra navigable for smooth transportation. Over 1,000 pieces of equipment are required to be transported from various places in the country and abroad for refinery expansion work, and several of these have been categorised as ODCs and OWCs. The NRL has identified 13 ODCs to be transported through sea and river routes to overcome challenges in their transportation by road. The movement of these barges is expected to aid natural dredging and supplement dredging operations to be carried out by IWAI to keep the river route navigable throughout the year. Infrastructural development in Inland Water Transport in the state to cater to the movement of ODCs and OWCs in the form of modern jetties at different locations of the Brahmaputra River and its major tributaries has triggered new hopes of reviving commercial river transportation in Assam. A new tourist-cum IWT cargo terminal being developed at Bogibeel in the Dibrugarh district at a cost of Rs 46.40 crore is scheduled to be completed in February 2024. The project's meeting the deadline is crucial to sustaining the enthusiasm of potential investors in the tourism and river transport sectors, as well as industries planning to make use of the river route for the transportation of goods. Some of the major features of the new terminal will include cargo and passenger berths, approach and other internal roads, a transit shed, an open storage area, a truck parking area, and a passenger waiting area. Once completed, it will also provide an alternative mode of cargo transport originating in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh at a lower cost and boost eco-tourism in these states. The development of a permanent terminal at Dhubri has boosted cargo movement, and over the last two years, 385 cargo vessels have moved to Bangladesh, which also signifies the increasing use of river routes between the two neighbouring countries in bilateral trade and commerce. The river route along the Brahmaputra is also poised to become a hub of export-import trade, not just between India and Bangladesh but also between Bangladesh and Bhutan, with India’s first multimodal logistic park coming up at Jogighopa and the development of a multimodal terminal at Pandu port. The NRL’s MoU with IWAI for petrochemical product supplies to Bangladesh is to be seen in the larger context of growing demand for inland water transport in India and its neighbours. The use of Dhubri port by Bhutan for exporting boulders to Bangladesh reduced transportation costs by 30% and travel time by eight hours, due to which traders in Bhutan and Bangladesh consider it a viable alternative route for EXIM cargo. Keeping the river navigable is of paramount importance to sustain demand and momentum. The advantages notwithstanding, barges and vessels bringing inbound consignments to Assam and other states in the northeast region also create the potential for cheaper transportation of goods from the region to the rest of India and also to export destinations. The Brahmaputra waterway is poised to become a new hub of waterway logistics in Asia.