The World Bank is likely to provide financial assistance for the Allahabad-Haldia inland waterway project — one of the pet projects of the NDA government. The project involves creation of two barrages on the Allahabad-Haldia cargo and human waterway route.

The Union government is likely to get assistance between Rs 4,200 crore and Rs 6,000 crore from World Bank. The exact amount of the funding is likely to be decided when officials from both sides meet on 3rd August.

The 1,620 km stretch between Allahabad and Haldia on Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river was declared a national waterway in 1986. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is now formulating an action plan for development of the channel.

It has been proposed that day navigation aids will be available in the entire waterway, while night navigation aids will be available between Tribeni and Farakka. Further investments will be made in providing 24 hour navigation aids with a modern GPS-based system for the Allahabad-Haldia waterway. IWAI will also use these channels for freight movement and will offer ship building opportunities for the private sector so as to make the optimum utilisation of the infrastructure created.

The government is formulating a cabinet note for Rs 1,05,000 crore investment in the national waterways projects. Of this, Rs 25,000 crore will come from the government while Rs 80,000 crore is likely to be garnered from the private sector to accomplish the targets of building national waterways through public-private partnership.