Bhubaneswar, June 28: The Inland Waterways Authority of India will develop the Brahmani-Kharsuan-Dhamra river stretch, part of the National Waterway-5, to facilitate cargo transport. The Asian Development Bank will fund the project, which will be the first such initiative in the state.

The 237-km stretch will connect the mineral rich districts of Keonjhar, Angul and Jajpur with Dhamra port in Bhadrak district. The riverway is expected to constitute an important transport link for the state. The project, once completed, will offer a viable and alternative mode of transport because Dhamra port has poor road connectivity unlike Paradip port.

Dhamra port, set up in the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode, was commissioned last year. Paradip port connects the mineral belt with a national highway. Coal, iron ore and other minerals are transported to Paradip port through roads and rail lines.

The planning commission has decided to develop Talcher-Dhamra stretch in PPP mode.

“Now, the PPP model is under study,” chief engineer (marine and projects) of the Inland Waterways Authority of India S. Dandapat told The Telegraph.

The authority has initiated efforts to fund the project from the Asian Development Bank and the Viability Gap Fund. The bank had agreed in principle to fund the project, he said.

A Delhi-based company had been engaged as the “transition advisory consultant to study the feasibility of the project, prepare the restructuring model and select the developers”, official sources said.

The central riverway project will start from the Talcher coal belt and terminate at Dhamra port. The river system will be made navigable round the year to facilitate operation of bigger vessels with capacities to carry up to 500 dead weight tonnage.

To make the Talcher-Dhamra stretch navigable, construction of five barrages, along with navigation locks, raising of river banks and dredging, have also been proposed. Moreover, three cargo terminals will be set up at Talcher, Jenapur and Dhamra. While the Talcher terminal is proposed to load coal from the coalfields, the Jenapur terminal will cater to the iron ores from Sukinda and Daitari mines.

In the second phase, the riverway will connect Haldia port through the East Coast Canal, built during the British period. Dhamra port will also be linked with Paradip through the Hansua river in Kendrapara district.

In November 2008, the Centre declared the Talcher-Dhamra stretch as part of the National Waterway-5, but the work could not be taken up for paucity of funds.

Out of the six national waterways notified by the Centre, the commissioned three are National Waterway-1 (1,620km Allahabad-Haldia stretch of the Ganges-Bhagirath-Hooghly river system), National Waterway-2 (891km Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river) and National Waterway-3 (205km Kottapura-Kollan stretch of the West Coast Canal, the Champakera Canal and the Udyogmandal Canal)

The authority had conducted a study through the Water and Power Consultancy Services to develop inland water transport along the East Coast Canal and the Brahmani–Kharsuan river system.