Context: The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has decided to carry out feasibility studies to use the National Waterways-101 on the Tizu Zunki River for the transportation of cargo and passengers.

Key points

• The proposed Tizu-Zungki waterway, or NW 101, will link Nagaland with the Chindwin River, Myanmar, and beyond.
• On the Nagaland side, it is set to run approximately 42 km, starting from Longmatra in Kiphire to Avangkhu in Phek’s Meluri sub-division.
• From Avangkhu, it will link up with the Chindwin and on to the Tamanthi port, Myanmar, traversing some 117 km.

Tizu River

• Tizu River forms an important drainage system in the eastern part of Nagaland. The main tributaries of the River Tizu are river Zungki, Lanye, and Likimro.
• The Zungki River, which is the biggest tributary of Tizu, starts from north-eastern part of Changdong forest in the south of Teku, flows in a southern direction towards Noklak, Shamator, and Kiphire, and finally joins Tizu below Kiphire.
• It further flows into Chindown river (third largest tributary of the Irrawaddy river), also known as Ningthi river in Myanmar, at Htamanthi in Myanmar.
• Chindown River further enters into the Irrawaddy river. The Irrawaddy further drains into Andaman Sea via Irrawaddy Delta after travelling through river ports like Mandalay Chauk, Prome and and Hinthada