World Bank-Funded Haldia Multimodal Terminal Handed Over to Private Operator.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), operating under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, has officially handed over the Haldia Multi-Modal Terminal (MMT) in West Bengal to IRC Natural Resources, marking a key milestone in promoting public-private partnerships (PPP) in India's inland waterways sector.

The Haldia MMT, developed with financial and technical support from the World Bank, boasts an annual handling capacity of 3.08 million metric tonnes. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2023 and operated without private participation until this handover.

Under a PPP model based on Equip, Operate and Transfer (EOT), IRC Natural Resources was selected through a competitive bidding process to manage the terminal’s operation and maintenance for 10 years, with a possible five-year extension. The company emerged as the highest bidder, offering a royalty of ₹105.03 per metric tonne of cargo handled to IWAI.

Strategically located near National Highway 41 with planned rail connectivity, the terminal is positioned to become an integrated multimodal logistics hub. It is one of five MMTs developed under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP), which seeks to enhance the capacity and efficiency of National Waterway-1—a 1,390 km stretch spanning Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.

The operationalisation of Haldia MMT by a private operator is expected to significantly boost cargo movement via inland waterways, providing a cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and faster alternative for transporting goods, especially benefiting the northeastern states and neighboring Bangladesh.

The project aligns with the government’s vision to modernize inland water transport, improve multimodal logistics, and reduce dependence on road and rail freight. Private sector participation, exemplified by this handover, is seen as a critical factor in scaling up infrastructure and operational efficiency in the sector.