Guwahati: A ship repairing centre and a maritime skill development centre will come up in Assam, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in Guwahati on Monday.
Sonowal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch construction work for the two facilities at Pandu in Guwahati on January 13, when he will also flag off the world’s longest river cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in Assam via the Indo-Bangladesh protocol route.
“The development of cruise tourism along with infrastructural development along the river banks will benefit countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh along with neighbouring states in the (northeastern) region as they can use the ports for cargo movement,’’ Union Shipping, Ports and Waterways Minister Sonowal said.
The Ship Repairing Centre to be built by the Cochin Shipyard Limited is a “very welcome step” for the investors as now ships had to be taken to Kolkata for repair, leading to a delay of four to five months, Sonowal told reporters in Guwahati.
He said about the 3200 km-long luxury cruise, the MV Ganga Vilas will traverse through 27 river systems covering 50 tourist spots in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and before entering Assam, it will pass through neighbouring Bangladesh.
The river cruise is aimed at integrating the National Waterways one and two to unlock the tourism potential of both rivers – the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, Sonowal said.
The PM Gati Shakti Masterplan where infrastructure development of waterways, road and rail networks will enhance connectivity and communication systems, increasing the cargo handling capacity in the ports.
The 51-day cruise, costing $300 per day, will carry 32 tourists from Switzerland and 14 of them will disembark at Kolkata with an equal number of travellers boarding it for the onward journey to Dibrugarh.
Another set of 32 tourists from the same country will board the three-deck ship with 18 suites on their way to Varanasi, Sonowal pointed out.
The ship will enter Assam on February 18 and will halt at Dhubri, Joghoghopal, Pandu, Kaziranga and Majuli, before reaching Dibrugarh on March 1.
About 100 students from all eight states in the Northeast will be trained in the skill development centre and they will get placement in the inland water sector.
Two terminals on the Barak River are also being constructed at Badarpur and Karimganj which, besides Assam, will benefit Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur, Sonowal said.