Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari will lay the foundation stone of a multi-modal terminal at Varanasi and flag off trial run of two vessels carrying Maruti Suzuki cars and construction material as a part of National Waterway-1 development, on Friday.
The Phase-I of the multi-modal terminal will be built by AFCONS Infrastructure at an estimated cost of Rs. 170 crore and is slated to complete by August 2018.
“The terminal will have road and rail connectivity with proposed links on NH-7 and Jeonathpur railway station respectively,” the Union Shipping Ministry said in a statement here.
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The two vessels – MV Joy Basudev with a capacity of 1,400 tones and MV VV Giri with a capitty of 300 tonnes, containing newly assembled cars of Maruti Suzuki and construction material, respectively will be flagged off from the Aghoreshwar Bhagwan Ram Ghat at Varanasi on August 12, the official statement said.
The cargo handling capacity of the multi-modal terminal is estimated to be 1.2 million metric tonnes per annum and it will handle stone chips, cement, food grains, fertilisers, sugar, among others, the government said.
It will have facilities such as storage area, transit shed, parking areas, among others and will also have a floating jetty for passengers.
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“National Waterway-1 (NW-1) is being developed under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, with assistance from the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,200 crore,” the statement said, adding that it would enable commercial vessels navigation from Varanasi to Haldia.