Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday said a new waterway between Tripura and Bangladesh would be completed within six months to facilitate the movement of ships.

Talking to reporters on the occasion of Diwali Milan here, Deb said the Centre would soon start dredging the Gomati on the Indian side for the new waterways to connect Ashuganj port in Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh with Sonamura in Sipahijala district of Tripura. The Ashuganj port on the Meghna in the neighbouring country is about 60km from Sonamura.

“The waterways between the two countries will start soon. The secretary of shipping recently visited the spot and assured us that the work would be completed within six months,” Deb said.

He said after completion of the new waterways, the state’s products would directly come to Sonamura sub-divisional town from Bangladesh.

The 15km railway track from Agartala to Akhaura in Bangladesh will be completed within 2020, he added.

“The 15km-long railway track will be completed within 2020 and the northeastern states will be well connected with the south Asian countries through Bangladesh,” the chief minister said.

Asked about smart city, Deb said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream and he was following his footsteps.

“Prime Minister Modi dreamt about making India a digital India and I am following his ways. Within the next four years, the state government will build many modern cities with all facilities. Many towers like tea tower, IT tower, police tower and big hospitals will be built on multi-storeyed buildings,” Deb said.

He said with the twin advantages of an International Internet Gateway (IIG) and uninterrupted power supply, the state government would hard sell the state’s potential for being an IT hub. Tripura is now a power-surplus state.

“The Agartala IIG is the third such Internet gateway in the country after Mumbai and Chennai. India has spent Rs 19.14 crore to create the infrastructure for the third IIG here to get access to the 10 gigabyte bandwidth from Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL),” the chief minister said.