BACKGROUND PAPER NO. 7 JANUARY 2007 PERSPECTIVES OF INLAND WATER TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHEAST BY INLAND WATERWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA This paper was commissioned as an input to the study “Development and Growth in Northeast India: The Natural Resources, Water, and Environment Nexus” Table of contents Preface.........................................................................................................................................................vi Abbreviations and acronyms ................................................................................................................ vii Executive summary ...................................................................................................................................1 1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................................3 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................................3 1.2 Need for the study........................................................................................................................3 1.3 Objectives and scope of the study..............................................................................................4 1.4 Methodology adopted for the study..........................................................................................4 1.5 Organization of the report...........................................................................................................6 2. The Northeastern Region and its states ..............................................................................................8 2.1 Physical features...........................................................................................................................8 2.2 States of the Northeast.................................................................................................................9 2.3 Topography.................................................................................................................................12 2.4 Climate.........................................................................................................................................12 2.5 Demographic characteristics.....................................................................................................12 2.6 Socioeconomic characteristics...................................................................................................13 3. Overview of transport system and history of inland water transport in the Northeast ........15 3.1 Existing transport system in the Northeastern Region.........................................................15 3.2 History of inland water transport in the Northeastern Region ...........................................23 4. National Waterway 2: Problems and prospects ...........................................................................26 4.1 River morphology and general characteristics.......................................................................26 4.2 Hydrological characteristics .....................................................................................................27 4.3 Analysis of water availability for navigation .........................................................................27 4.4 National Waterway 2: Prospects for inland water transport ...............................................31 ii 5. Overview of other potential waterways in the Northeastern Region......................................33 5.1 Barak River ..................................................................................................................................33 5.2 Subansiri River............................................................................................................................34 5.3 Dhansiri River.............................................................................................................................36 5.4 Kolodyne River...........................................................................................................................36 5.5 Gumti River.................................................................................................................................38 5.6 Haora River .................................................................................................................................38 5.7 Lohit River...................................................................................................................................39 5.8 Tizu River ....................................................................................................................................39 6. Organized and unorganized movements......................................................................................40 6.1 Organized sector movements ...................................................................................................40 6.2 Unorganized sector movements...............................................................................................44 7. Intercountry trade through inland water transport.....................................................................47 7.1 Present intercountry cargo transport.......................................................................................47 7.2 Future cargo potential................................................................................................................49 7.3 Inland terminals..........................................................................................................................50 7.4 Availability of fleet.....................................................................................................................51 7.5 Problems ......................................................................................................................................51 7.6 Ways forward..............................................................................................................................52 8. Future role of inland water transport in the Northeastern Region ...........................................54 8.1 Waterway development ............................................................................................................54 8.2 Cargo movement ........................................................................................................................54 8.3 Opening of new intercountry inland water transport routes ..............................................55 9. Implementation and institutional arrangements .........................................................................56 9.1 National Waterway 2 .................................................................................................................56 9.2 Other waterways ........................................................................................................................57 9.3 Proposed North East Water Resources Authority (NEWRA)..............................................57 iii 10. Conclusions and recommendations.............................................................................................59 10.1 Conclusions ...............................................................................................................................59 10.2 Recommendations....................................................................................................................60 Appendix A. Terms of reference for study...........................................................................................62 Appendix B. Least available depth details for last five years............................................................62 Appendix C. Shoal locations causing recurrent problems on NW-2................................................66 Appendix D. Movement of cargo on NW-2 by selected operators...................................................79 Appendix E. Movement of cargo in Assam on selected routes.........................................................86 Appendix F. Passengers carried by IWTD 2003–2004 ........................................................................88 Appendix G. Inland water transport: Potential employment generation........................................92 Appendix H. Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade ................................95 Appendix I. IWAI administrative setup for NW-2 .............................................................................96 Appendix J. Inland Water Transport Directorate administrative setup for NW-2.........................98 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................................................100 iv Tables Table 1. Northeast India: Population, land area, and density by state.............................................13 Table 2. Proportion of rural and urban populations...........................................................................13 Table 3. Income data for northeastern states........................................................................................14 Table 4. Length of railways in northeast India by state......................................................................17 Table 5. Length of road network in northeast India by state.............................................................18