National Waterway-57 Now Operational on Assam's Kopili River.

In a significant move to boost Assam's river-based trade, National Waterway-57 (River Kopili) has been officially operationalized with a successful trial run of a cargo vessel. This marks the resumption of intra-state waterborne freight transport in Assam after more than a decade.

The cargo vessel MV VV Giri, carrying 300 metric tonnes of cement from M/s Star Cement, traveled a 300-kilometer route from the Govardhan Bridge in Chandrapur to Hatsingimari in South Samara. The voyage, which took approximately 12 to 14 hours, utilized both the Kopili River (NW 57) and the Brahmaputra River (NW 2).

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, hailed the development as a "watershed moment" for inland waterways transport in the Northeast. He confirmed that with this new route, a total of 1,168 kilometers of National Waterways in Assam are now operational, including the Brahmaputra (NW 2), Barak (NW 16), and Dhansiri (NW 31).

“This is a breakthrough in Assam’s logistics transformation,” Sonowal said, highlighting that the move provides an economical, efficient, and environmentally sustainable alternative to road transport. He noted that the trial run alone replaced roughly 23 truckloads of cement, reducing emissions and easing road congestion.

The operationalization of NW-57 is a key part of the Maritime India Vision 2030 and PM Gati Shakti initiatives, which aim to create sustainable and integrated transport infrastructure nationwide. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, has been actively working to unlock the navigational potential of rivers throughout the Northeast.

Sonowal concluded by stating that the Kopili cargo movement "is a symbol of the new Assam," and that waterways will be the "arteries of regional prosperity."