NW-52, NW-90 and NW-104 feasible for tourism and ferry services
Development initiatives have been taken up on 20 National Waterways (NWs) on the basis of techno-economic and feasibility studies for cargo and passenger movement vessels which covered 26 NWs out of 111 NWs in India.
This information was given by Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 28 July 2023.
Major challenges for development of National Waterways include the varying and limited depths during lean season due to the excessive upstream withdrawal and utilization of water resulting in meandering and braiding of alluvial rivers, erosion of their banks causing excessive siltation, lack of cargo earmarked for IWT, non-mechanized navigation lock systems, insufficient unloading facility at terminals, horizontal and vertical clearance issues due to cross structures, first & last mile connectivity, lack of vessel financing options and apprehension of logistics and shipping market to shift in absence of policy support hinder the use of IWT by shippers.
Efforts made to overcome these challenges and to grow cargo movement through Inland Water Transport (IWT), he assured legislators.
There are 9 NWs exclusively in Karnataka & 3 inter-State NWs which have been declared under National Waterways Act, 2016. After feasibility/DPR studies of all these NWs, Kali River (NW-52), Sharavati River (NW-90) in Karnataka & Tungabhadra River (NW-104) in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been found feasible for tourism and ferry services.
The Government has provided an amount of Rs.2.7 crore for development of jetty infrastructure in Kali River (NW-52) through the State Government, the Minister told the house.
Fairway development works to ensure Least Available Depth (LAD) of 3.0 meter in Haldia-Barh, 2.5 meter in Barh-Ghazipur and 2.2 meter in Ghazipur-Varanasi stretches on NW-1 have been taken up under the JalMarg Vikas Project (JMVP) which has been undertaken by Indland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) with technical and financial assistance from World Bank, he said.
Similarly, to improve the connectivity between NW-1 and NW-2/NW-16 via the Indo Bangladesh protocol route, the critical and shallow stretches between Sirajganj and Daikhowa on protocol route No 1 & 2 and Ashuganj and Zakiganj on protocol rote no 3 & 4 in Bangladesh are being jointly developed by India and Bangladesh for round the year navigability (with targeted LAD of 2.5 m).
Similarly, fairway development works have been taken up on NW-97 in Sunderbans to allow smooth navigation of vessels on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.
Taking ahead the vision of the Government to promote Inland Waterways as a supplementary mode of transport, the Ministry has considered waiver of waterway user charges initially for a period of three years, he said. Fiinews.com
