Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to flag off the world’s longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas, inaugurate Tent City at Varanasi and lay foundation stones for several other inland waterway projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore.
Both the MV Ganga Vilas and Varanasi Tent City are expected to give a major boost to the tourism potential in the region.
The Prime Minister will inaugurate the projects at 10:30 am on January 13 via video conferencing.
All you need to know about the inland waterway projects, MV Ganga Vilas and Varanasi Tent City:
MV GANGA VILAS
The cruise will begin its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and travel 3,200 km in 51 days to reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh. It will sail across 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh.
The MV Ganga Vilas has three decks, 18 suites and a capacity of 36 tourists with luxury amenities. The maiden voyage will carry 32 tourists from Switzerland across the entire length.
In the 51 days of the cruise, the MV Ganga Vilas will visit 50 tourist spots including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats, and major cities such as Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.
The government is aiming to untap the potential of river cruise with the MV Ganga Vilas.
TENT CITY AT VARANASI
Tent City is another bet to untap the potential of tourism in the region.
The project, developed along the city ghats of River Ganga, will provide accommodation facilities, and cater to the inflow of tourists to Varanasi.
The Tent City has been developed by the Varanasi Development Authority in PPP mode.
Tourists can reach the Tent City by boats from different ghats. It will be operational from October to June every year, and then will be dismantled for three months in the rainy season.
INLAND WATERWAY PROJECTS
PM Modi will inaugurate the Haldia Multi Modal Terminal in West Bengal, that has a cargo handling capacity of over 3 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA). The berths are designed to handle vessels up to around 3,000 deadweight tonnage.
Four floating community jetties at Saidpur, Chochakpur, Zamania in Ghazipur district and at Kanspur in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh will also be inaugurated.
Foundation stone for five community jetties at Digha, Nakta Diyara, Barh, Panapur in Patna district and Hasanpur in Samastipur district in Bihar will be laid by PM Modi. These community jetties are expected to provide logistics solutions for small farmers, fisher units, florists, horticulturists etc.
The Maritime Skill Development Centre for Northeast will be inaugurated in Guwahati by PM Modi. It will help in honing the talent pool in the Northeastern region and provide better job opportunities.
PM Modi will lay the foundation of a ship repairing facility in Guwahati’s Pandu terminal. This facility will save money and time as it takes more than a month for a ship to be transported to and from Kolkata.