GUWAHATI, August 26: Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for transportation of over-dimensional cargo and project cargo of Numaligarh Refinery using inland water transport.
The MoU signing was held at Kunjakanan-NRL Township in the presence of Union minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday.
Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Rameshwar Teli attended the ceremony virtually.
The MoU will pave the way for making rivers navigable throughout the year by IWAI and assist in bringing large cargo and capital equipment, including single-piece prefabricated process plants for refinery expansion project.
It will also open up trade and commerce as outward freight movement in large consignment will be possible from river Dhansiri, adjoining the refinery.
As part of the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 of the government of India, NRL has embarked on a major refinery expansion project to treble its existing refining capacity from 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA.
As part of the project, over 1,000 equipment shall be transported from across the country and abroad. Most of the equipment shall fall under the category of over-dimensional consignment (ODC) and overweight consignment (OWC).
NRL intends to implement multimodal transportation through road and waterways to secure delivery of the equipment.
Due to various limitations in road transportation, the sea and riverine routes shall be leveraged to connect the major ports in western region of the nation to the Northeast region up to NRL.
As part of the transportation process, NRL shall be using Self Derrick Vessels for transportation at sea up to Haldia port. Barges shall be used for transportation along the riverine route along India-Bangladesh Protocol Route and Assam.