The Tripura Government has forwarded a proposal to the Central Government, seeking funds to establish a ‘Multimodal Logistics Hub’ at the bank of River Gomati in Udaipur District. It aims to boost trade with South East Asia via Bangladesh.
The Special Secretary of Transport Department – Sandeep R Rathod noted, “A plot of 20 acres of land has already been earmarked with the project and a proposal for allocating another 36.33 acres of land is under active consideration, after the government in principle agreed to the proposed extension of the Sonamura-Daudkandi Protocol Route connecting Bangladesh’s River Meghna with River Gomati of Tripura from Srimantapur to Maharani.”
Road, railway, waterway and airway will be constructed for the proposed project to facilitate trade, commerce and tourism, the state transport department official said.
Besides, a plan has been initiated to connect Tripura with Kaladan Multimodal Transit Project via Cox’s Bazaar, Chittagong, and Ashuganj ports in Bangladesh and Kolkata through Sittwe and Paletwa as part of the ‘Act East Policy’ initiated by the centre to make Tripura as the gateway of South-East Asia.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs have approved the extension of the proposed 40-km Protocol Route inside Tripura. Another proposal has been awaiting clearance from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways for the development of international waterways through River Feni in South Tripura District to connect Chittagong Port of Bangladesh.
The Ministry of Shipping has already sanctioned Rs 24.52 crore for setting up nine floating jetties. It has floated a tender for taking up dredging in the Gomati river to operationalize the route.
“A hydrographic survey on the Feni river will be carried out to ascertain the water level before pushing for the plan,” the official said.
