New Delhi July 20 (IANS) The government on Friday said it was set to complete the multi-modal terminal at Varanasi by November this year while two others at Sahibganj and Haldia would be completed next year.
"The Rs 169.59 crore multi-modal terminal (MMT) being built at Varanasi by Inland Waterways Authority of India under Jal Marg Vikas project is set to be completed by November this year. This would be a major landmark for the project " an official statement said.
"The construction of the Rs 280. 90 crore MMT at Sahibganj is to be completed by May 2019 and the one at Haldia being constructed at a cost of Rs 517.36 crore is scheduled to be completed by December 2019 " it added.
Jal Marg Vikas is a Rs 5 369 crore World Bank aided project on National Waterway 1 (River Ganga) aimed at augmenting the navigational capacity of the Varanasi to Haldia stretch of the river to enable commercial navigation of at least 1 500-2 000 ton vessels.
The government said that apart from the three multi-modal terminals the work on the Rs 359.20 crore state-of-the-art navigational lock at Farakka would be completed by June next year.
"Contract for maintenance dredging in the Farakka-Kahalgaon stretch of the river was awarded in April 2018 for Rs 150 crore and work on this has started. The work for construction of two inter-modal terminals on NW-1 at Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh and Kalughat in Bihar will be awarded this year " it added.

--IANS vv/vd