Opinion (Spotlight Weekly)

Canal Navigation And 1997 Kosi Agreement

By Dr. A.B. Thapa

During the official visit of Nepalese prime minister to India in early 1990s it was agreed that both the countries would jointly undertake the detailed study of the Kosi High Dam Project. Immediately after signing that accord the Nepalese politics was marred by the controversy over the Tanakpur Barrage issue, as a result, very few outsiders could have noticed that at that time the Ministry of Water Resources was gripped by another controversy about the Kosi High Dam issue. The controversy was over the omission of the Sun-Kosi Project and the Kosi navigation in the bilateral agreement

I vehemently raised the Sun-Kosi Dam and the Kosi navigation issue within the Water Resources Ministry. It might surprise many to learn that at the beginning there was hardly anyone in the ministry who realized the significance of my proposition and who also believed that Indian Government could easily be convinced to agree with us. One of our policy makers, who was considered heavyweight in the field of water resources, was even wailing virtually in tears about the great misery that would befall our country and we could be denied access to essential goods such as the salt and oil if the Water Resources Ministry tried to drive our country to a collision course with India on Kosi High Dam issues.

Prelude to 1997 Kosi Meeting

I was not surprised when I learnt after my relatively long absence from Kathmandu in the middle of 1996 that His Majesty’s Government had appointed me to lead a Nepalese team constituted to negotiate the Kosi study agreement with the Government of India. Perhaps at that time I was the only person in the government doing some studies of the Kosi problems independently despite the fact that the nature of my official assignment was completely different. I had tried to conceptualize on my own way the Kosi High Dam Project and the Sun-Kosi High Dam Project. I had even developed for the first time a new concept of the Kosi navigation canal linking Nepal with the seaport through Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hoogly rivers. I was happy that I would be able to present my views to Indian colleagues. I understood that there is a great deal of misunderstandings between Nepal and India over matters related to water resources in general and the Kosi river in particular Thus the task to evolve a common program for Kosi study acceptable to both the countries was not easy

Indian Endorsement of Canal Navigation Plan

The Kosi Study Agreement 1997 has shown beyond doubt that the commencement of the construction of the Kosi High Dam would be contingent upon the prior implementation of the Sun-Kosi High Dam Project on technical grounds Similarly the study to construct the Kosi High Dam is now firmly tied up with the provision of a 165 km long navigation canal out of it a 120 km long section of such navigation canal would be in Indian territory. The proposed navigation canal would be linking Nepal with the seaport through Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hoogly rivers Thus India has not only endorsed our proposal to build the Kosi navigation canal linking Nepal with the seaport through Ganges, but it has even gone one step further. Government of India has agreed to bear the entire cost of the feasibility studies of the Sun-Kosi Dam Project as well as the Kosi Navigation Canal Project.

Advantages of Kosi Canal Navigation

The Kosi Waterway is the nearest to the Calcutta Seaport and it is well linked with the transportation system within Nepal, thus there is a great advantage in giving priority to develop this waterway. Unfortunately the topography of the terrain in India traversed by the Kosi river is quite steep. There is an elevation drop of about 40 m between Indo-Nepal border and the Ganges River in a north south stretch of just about 120 km. This certainly makes the task of developing Kosi River channel suitable for navigation by large vessels very difficult. The high topographical gradient makes the channel depth small due to high flow velocities. All these difficulties can be easily overcome if we choose to have a navigation canal instead of natural course of the Kosi River. Some of the obvious advantages of the navigable canal linking Chatra in Nepal with the Kursella where Kosi merges with the Ganges are given below:

The navigation canal would follow the shortest route to the Ganges river. The length of the Kosi navigation canal from Indo-Nepal border near Birpur to the Ganges is expected to be only about 120 km, whereas the length of the river route to cover the same stretch would have been about 270 km.

Quite a big quantity of water would have to be kept running in the river to maintain adequate depths needed for navigation. For navigation canal such requirements would be very small. The problem of water loss in navigation canal would not even arise if such canal is also to be used as a conveyance system to deliver water for irrigation purposes.

The entry point of the Kosi navigation canal into the Ganges river is near the tail end of the Ganges river where the depth and widths of the river channel are expected to be adequate for relatively big river vessels. There might even be significant enhancement in navigability of the Ganges river near the tail end due to upstream water level rises after the completion of the Farakka Barrage. The Kosi navigation canal would have to be planned to take vessels plying in the lower reach of the Ganges, as a result, it would be far bigger in size by comparison with similar canals along the Gandak or the Karnali rivers falling into the Upper Reach Ganges.

Layout of the Navigation Canal

The proposed navigation canal will extend from Chatra to a place near Kursella where the Kosi meets the Ganges River. The canal is expected to be about 165 km long. This canal could be proposed to be used to the extent possible for irrigation and power generation purposes also. The Kosi navigation canal will be a component of the Kosi High Dam Multipurpose Project. There are good examples in the past when big multipurpose projects had helped to develop the inland navigation. The river Rhine is one of such examples. To improve navigation and to produce hydroelectric energy, France, by the Treaty of Versailles, diverted the Rhine water below Basel into a canal that joins the Rhine at Neu Breisach. This helped to significantly improve the navigation conditions that permitted to ply barges of 1,500 tons capacity in that stretch of the river.

An example of the most recent navigation canal is the Main-Danube Canal in Germany. This canal is 171 km long. Its construction was completed in 1990s. The canal winds through some of the most challenging, scenic, and environmentally sensitive landscape in Germany. The Altmuhl Valley traversed by the canal is one of the most beautiful and environmentally fragile in Bavaria. It is this factor that lies behind a long and often passionate opposition to this project. However, Germany did not bow before the environmentalists opposing the canal scheme who regarded that it would be the end of the Altmuhl valley. The economic attraction of the waterway for Germany was too great. According to a study conducted on behalf of the State Railway, to move one ton of goods in Germany one kilometre costs 14 pfenings (about 9 cents) by rail and 29 pfenings by road, but just 4 pfenings by inland waterway.

Stair step locks on the Main River lift barge traffic to Bamburg, northern entry point to the canal. From there 11 locks raise ships to the highest point on any commercial waterway in Europe about 180 m above Bamburg. Five more locks then lower vessels to Kelheim, the southern terminus of the canal. The waterway will accommodate huge Euro-barges carrying upto 2,425 tons of bulk cargo, the equivalent of 78 truck trailers.

The proposed Kosi navigation canal can be divided into two sections. They are as given below:

The Upper Reach Canal

The length of the Upper Reach Canal will be about 45 km. This canal will be entirely in Nepal territory. It has been proposed in the Kosi High Dam Project Report prepared by the Government of India to build a canal from Chatra to the Birpur area to deliver silt free water from the Kosi storage reservoir for irrigating lands in India on the east of the Kosi. This canal would be 130 m wide. There is a drop of about 40 metres between Chatra and the Birpur. It is proposed to build three powerhouses along this canal to utilize the topographical gradient. The capacity of each such power station is expected to be about 100 MW.

The canal proposed to be built for delivering water from Chatra to the Birpur can also be used for navigation purposes. The canal width proposed for irrigation is quite adequate for navigation. However, the canal would require special attention at the design stage from the view point of always maintaining water depths greater than the minimum permissible. Similarly it would also be necessary to look into matters related with free board, and protection of the bank and the bed of the canal.

The canal will require navigation locks for negotiating the fall across the powerhouses. There should be three locks parallel to the powerhouse on the upper reach canal between Chatra and the Birpur. The size of these navigation locks should be decided based on the standard sizes adopted for the Farakka Barrage system. It is a common practice that same standard size of the lock system is maintained throughout the interconnected waterways system.

The Lower Reach Canal

The length of Lower Reach Canal will be about 120 km. This canal will be completely in Indian territory. Few characteristics of lands in the lower reach of the proposed navigation canal are given below.

The land is comparatively flat. There is a drop of only about 40 m in a north-south distance of 120 km. So, it might be necessary to provide 3 to 4 locks to negotiate this drop. These drops could also be used for power generation. Similarly the navigation channel running up to Kursella can be used for delivering water needed for irrigation. For this purpose the outlets will have to be provided without cross regulators.

There are several north-south dead channels of the Kosi River running almost parallel to the proposed navigation canal. These dead channels meet the present Kosi River channel just close to Kursella where the Kosi empties into the Ganges. If certain stretch of any one of these channels can be completely cut off from the rest of the Kosi catchment area and if it does not involve serious environmental hazards, it would certainly be worthwhile to examine the possibility of using it as a navigation channel. Such a navigation channel would also require at several places dikes, check structures, navigation locks to improve the hydraulic regime.

(Dr. Thapa writes on water resources)