Pandu port to be developed as a hub of inland shipping in North-east

The development of Pandu port as an inland shipping hub in the North­east is being initiated, as the government has approved a project for de­ve­loping National Waterway (NW)-2 entailing an investment of Rs 4.61 billion during 2020-21 to 2024-25. Among other things, the project in­volves the setting up of a ship repair facility at Pandu entailing an in­vestment of Rs 0.72 billion. This would be beneficial as the north-eastern region does not have any vessel repair facility with dry docking. At present, the vessels in the region are taken to Kolkata through Bangla­desh for dry dock repair. The government had established a multimodal river port at Pandu. A master plan was prepared for phased development of the terminal at Pandu. A low-level jetty entailing an investment of Rs .04 billion was made operational in 2009. During 2014-15, a high-level jetty entailing an investment of Rs 0.43 billion was also made operational  with a mechanical handling facility including containers.