A boat-sized vessel, which is smaller than a barge, kicked off its maiden and experimental journey from Bangladesh’s Doudkandi to Sonamura in Tripura on Thursday afternoon.

This water project has been delayed many times crossing deadlines.

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The vessel is carrying 200 bags of cement from Bangladesh to Sonamura.

This is for the first time in history that any kind of goods will be reaching Tripura by a small vessel.

Gomoti river, which is the main river in Tripura and flows to Bangladesh from Tripura, has been chosen for the transportation of goods as the river has sufficient waters for movement of boats and small ships.

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The Sonamura-Daudkandi route was included in the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route that was signed by both High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das and shipping secretary of Bangladesh Mohammad Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury at Dhaka in May.

Earlier, Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb promised that big ships would come to Tripura through river Gomati by the end of 2018, but instead of big ships, a vessel like a boat is coming towards the state.

The first vessel with consignment started its trial run on Thursday from Munshiganj in Bangladesh for Sonamura port in Tripura.

The chief minister had said, “With the successful run, the Indo-Bangla waterways will open up new avenues for economic development in both the countries where Tripura will play an important role.”

It is expected that the vessel would reach Sonamura on Saturday afternoon.