inland waterways authority of india is planning development of national waterways in north east region of india. for the development of national waterways in the north east region (ner), an amount of rs. 1,000 million has been provided in the budget estimates (be)-2016-17. expenditure for developmental works being taken up on the river brahmaputra and barak will be met out of this allocation. specified stretches of rivers brahmaputra and barak have been declared as national waterway-2 and 16 respectively by the national waterways act, 2016. river brahmaputra has been developed substantially in terms of fairway, navigational aids and terminals with mechanized handling facilities. this waterway is operational and vessels are operating on it. development of river barak for navigation is proposed in two stages. the stretch from silchar to bhanga (71 km) is proposed under phase-i and the remaining stretch from silchar to lakhipur (50 km) is proposed to be taken up in phase-ii. tender for award of work for development of fairway and providing navigational aids in silchar-bhanga stretch is in the final stage. [info as of: nov. 16]
