India's First Riverine Lighthouses on Brahmaputra

11 Mar 2026 CW Team

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal laid foundation stones at Lachit Ghat in Guwahati for four river lighthouses on the Brahmaputra, marking the first lighthouse infrastructure on an inland waterway in India. The project is a joint initiative of the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) and the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW). The four sites are Bogibeel, Pandu, Silghat and Biswanath Ghat.\n\nCombined project outlay is Rs 840 mn and each lighthouse will rise to 20 metres with a geographical range of 14 nautical miles and a luminous range of eight to ten nautical miles, powered entirely by solar energy. Each site will include a museum, amphitheatre, cafeteria, children's play area, souvenir shop and landscaped public spaces to promote tourism alongside navigation.\n\nThe commissioning on National Waterway two follows a 53 per cent surge in cargo movement on the Brahmaputra in the financial year 2024–25, and reflects the corridor's growing role in Assam's tea, coal and fertiliser supply chains as well as passenger and tourism traffic. The new aids to navigation will make round the clock navigation safer, host weather observation sensors and provide infrastructure required for sustained freight and passenger growth. The minister noted that moving a tonne (t) of freight by water costs about one third of road transport and half of rail.\n\nThe project followed a memorandum of understanding between IWAI and DGLL signed in April 2025, with sites transferred under right of use agreements in June 2025 after technical clearance, and each lighthouse is scheduled for completion within 24 months of contract award following geotechnical investigation, topographic survey and detailed design. National Waterway two connects Dhubri to Sadiya across 891 kilometres, and the ministry describes the lighthouses as the start of a wider programme to equip inland waterways with coastal standard navigational safety infrastructure.

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