Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has reportedly completed most part of the transloading project for ferrying coal from Haldia port to Farakka thermal power plant of NTPC.

IWAI is a facilitator of the coal transportation project and will play a key role in ensuring navigability. The coal would be transported on the Ganges in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Transportation of the fuel would begin in the next few months and it would be delivered to power stations in West Bengal and Bihar, reports suggest.

IWAI has reportedly finished nearly 85 per cent of work for a jetty in Farakka. Barges are deployed by Jindal ITF at the Haldia port, media reports indicate. NTPC awarded the transportation contract to Jindal ITF, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jindal Saw, in 2011.

Through this route, NTPC intends to ferry 3-7 million tonne of imported coal annually. The project would avoid congestion in the country’s rail and road transportation system.

While part of the consignment will be used at 2,100 mw Farakka thermal power station, the rest will be transported to NTPC’s 1340 mw facility at Kahalgaon in Bihar using the merry-go-round (rail network) between Farakka and Kahalgaon.

The project was delayed by about a year owing to uncertainty in carrying out trans-loading operations (transferring cargo from large vessels carrying import cargo to barges).