According to a report, work on the Varanasi river terminal of the Ganga Jal Marg Vikas Project, aided by the World Bank, will be completed this year well ahead of schedule. In a recent assessment, the Bank showed its satisfaction with the progress of the Rs 5,369-crore project.
An ambitious infrastructure project of the government and implemented by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), it envisages creation of an all-weather river transport facility capable of carrying 45 million tonnes of cargo along the 1,400-km stretch of the Ganga between Varanasi and Kolkata (National Waterway-1) by 2022.
Contracts have been awarded for the construction of three terminals each capable of handling two to three million tonnes of cargo a year. The contract for a second lock at the Farakka Barrage to pace up vessel movement has also been awarded.
