Trial run of Sonamura-Daudkandi waterway to begin next month

The inland waterways on the Sonamura-Daudkandi route that connects Tripura to Bangladesh will have its first trial run in the first week of September when barges carry 50 tonnes of cement across the canal, according to Biplab Kumar Deb, the chief minister of Tripura.

The 93-kilometre stretch was included in the list of India-Bangla protocol (IBP) routes in May earlier this year.

During the trial run, barges loaded with cement will head from the Daudkandi upazila of Bangladesh to the Sonamura subdivision in Tripura.

"This is the first time in history that any imported good will reach Tripura by ship," Deb said in a social media post, adding that the 60-kilometre journey has been approved by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.

As a part of the India-Bangla international inland waterways connectivity project, a floating jetty was installed on the Gomati river in Tripura on 4 July.

Traders of both nations had demanded that a trial run be held before allowing operations on the Sonamura-Daudkandi route to officially begin, various officials said.

A team of senior officials from the Bangladesh Shipping Ministry surveyed the route on 12 August, according to Subrata Majumder, the sub-divisional magistrate of Sonamura.

Around 89.5 kilometres of the 90-kilometre stretch is within Bangladesh, he added.