Assam’s Jogighopa gets PM Gati Shakti port, will boost trade with Bhutan and Bangladesh

The terminal, whose foundation was laid by PM Modi in 2021, will be one of the flagship ports of call between India and Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: A state-of-the-art waterways terminal at Assam’s Jogighopa, a strategic town on the northern bank of Brahmaputra that will boost trade between India, Bhutan and Bangladesh, was opened by Union shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday. The port is part of the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan.

Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal with Bhutan minister Lyonpo Namgyal Dorji at the inauguration of the IWT Terminal of Inland Waterways Authority of India on river Brahmaputra at Jogighopa in Assam (X/@sarbanandsonwal)

The terminal, whose foundation was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2021, was completed in record time and will be one of the flagship ports of call between India and Bangladesh, a shipping ministry statement said.

Bhutan’s commerce minister Lyonpo Namgyal Dorgi also attended Tuesday’s launch ceremony.

“The Jogighopa terminal is set to transform connectivity in the region and bolster our trilateral trade with Bhutan and Bangladesh. Its strategic position allows it to play the role of an economic multiplier for the region, a testament to PM Narendra Modi’s doctrine of ‘neighbourhood first’,” the statement quoted Sonowal as saying.

The port is located 90 km from Gelephu in Bhutan, where the kingdom is building a so-called Mindfulness city, 100 km from Bangladesh border and 150 km from Guwahati.

It is expected to handle 1.1 million tonnes of cargo per annum. On Tuesday, the shipping minister flagged off MV Padma Navigation II with 110 tonnes of coal from Jogighopa to Bangladesh.