Centre, Odisha focus clearing bottlenecks in National Waterway-5 project

Bhubaneswar, Nov 4 (UNI) The Centre and Odisha Government have reviewed key hurdles in the development of the 588-km National Waterway-5 (NW-5), including land acquisition, statutory clearances, infrastructure maintenance and water availability for navigation, officials said on Wednesday. The issues came up at a high-level meeting attended by Chief Secretary Anu Garg, union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Secretary Vijay Kumar, industry stakeholders and senior State Government officials on Tuesday. The proposed waterway comprises a 332-km riverine stretch from Talcher to Paradip/Dhamra, entirely within Odisha, and a 256-km canal stretch from Dhamra to Geonkhali in West Bengal. The project is currently…