Dhenkanal: River Brahmani, the lifeline of undivided Dhenkanal district, will be included in the national waterway project to help facilitate coal and fertilizer transport through water route, a report said.
The project will help in development of industries and agriculture apart from boosting tourism in Dhenkanal and Angul districts.
This was stated here by Mines, Steel, and Works Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick. The minister said the state government has written to the Centre to immediately make the project operational.
Brahmani passes through Dhenkanal, Angul and Jajpur districts. As part of this project, two of the major bridges across the river in Dhenkanal district will be renovated to help ships sail under them.
The Sarangdhar bridge between Dhenkanal and Kamakhyanagar and Baji Rout bridge between Dhenakanal and Bhuban will be renovated.
The bridges 6 metre in height and 35 metre in width will be upgraded to 9 metre in height and 62.07 metre in width as per Central guidelines.
Similarly, construction of two more proposed bridges at Kaluria in Gondia block and at Sarang in Talcher block will be constructed, Manoranjan Biswal, executive engineer of works department, said.
This will help ships to sail in the river. In the first phase, the waterway will start from Samal barrage in Angul district and pass through Dhenkanal district to reach Paradip and Dhamra ports.
Earlier, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had hinted at including the river in the national waterway project when he was here at Kamakhyanagar Stadium to lay the foundation stone for renovation and up-gradation of National Highway-53, February 2.
Gadkari had said transportation of goods through the waterway is needed for development of the state for which the Centre has invested Rs 5,000 crore for development of the waterway.
Reports said various industries in both Dhenkanal and Angul districts have come up near the banks of Brahmani with several farmlands lying nearby.
The river will have water flowing above three metre when it becomes a national waterway. The water flowing above three metre will help in ensuring irrigation facilities for farmland all round the year.
PNN