Waterways development on cards in North-East

Aizawl, Nov 27: DoNER has asked Mizoram, Tripura and the Nagaland governments to submit project reports for development of waterways' network in their states.

Official sources here today said following a discussion on the development of communication in these states the ministry of development for the northeastern region (DoNER) has to submit proposal to Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for developing waterways and tributaries.

They said inland water transport, which supposed to be the key to the development of remote and inaccessible areas, identified for the project at experimental phase.

''DoNER has requsted IWAI to provide technical assistance for preparing project report while states are asked to move forward with the project by this financial year, which would also solve transport problems during the monsoon and floods'', the sources said.

The use of inland waterways would have advantages with regard to shorter routes through the Sundarbans and Bangladesh than by surface network.

Trade relation between India and its neighbouring countries would be bolstered by the development of waterways between Myanmar and Nagaland and Mizoram as well as Tripura and Bangladesh, they added.

UNI