Sonowal assures Central Government support for tapping waterway system
A new state of the art facility has been set up at the Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for construction of electric powered inland vessels, CSL chairman and managing director Madhu S. Nair has told marine industry stakeholders.
Addressing the first meeting of Inland Waterways Development Council (IWDC) on 8 Jan 2024 in Kolkata, he apprised the stakeholders on capacity building efforts to make Green Vessels.
Harit Nauka – Guidelines for Green Transition of Inland Vessels and River Cruise Tourism Roadmap, 2047, was launched by Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.
With the Harit Nauka Guidelines, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has put forth a strong commitment towards furthering passenger transport through waterways in an environment friendly and sustainable manner by promoting the adoption of low-emission fuel (CNG, LNG, electric, hydrogen, methanol) as propulsion fuel for inland vessel operations (Green Vessels).
Sonowal chaired the meeting onboard vessel MV Ganga Queen showcasing the interesting possibilities waterways sector holds.
The meeting also gave an update on River Cruise Tourism Roadmap 2047 which focuses on four vital pillars, including Infrastructure, Integration, Accessibility, and Policy for promoting river cruise tourism.
As a part of the roadmap, over 30 possible routes and tourist circuits along inland waterways have been identified for further development.
The MoPSW stressed upon the importance of State-level institutional structure and rules in ensuring that the planning and development of the state’s inland waterway ecosystem accounts for its unique characteristics and requirements.
The Ministry further recommended that IWT specific institutional structures put in place by Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh among others can be looked into and adopted by other states.
States such as Nagaland and Tamil Nadu, highlighted the rivers and waterbodies (NW-101, NW-4) of the respective States, that possess the potential for supporting passenger and/or cargo movement and emphasized upon prioritizing the development of these NWs.
Many of the state’s highlighted opportunities of channelizing IWT for cargo movement.
For instance, Madhya Pradesh highlighted the potential of waterways in facilitating mineral movement while Andhra Pradesh highlighted ability for finished goods movements of cement and steel using waterways in their state.
Similarly, multiple states brought out the scope of IWT-based tourism.
For instance, Madhya Pradesh mentioned stretches of Narmada River while Assam shared ideas on religious tourism circuit development along Brahmaputra River among others.
Meeting participants also discussed regulatory aspects of the IWT sector especially contours of the Inland Vessel Act 2021 (which replaces a century old Act) and the role of State Government agencies in ensuring its compliance.
As the participants deliberated upon infrastructure and technology interventions in the IWT space, representatives from IIT Kharagpur presented a computerized simulation of the working of an Open Pontoon system developed by the institute for enabling faster pontoon operations.
Works towards deployment of two such Open Pontoon systems in Uttar Pradesh are underway.
Sonowal has assured that the Central Government shall continue to support the States/UTs in their endeavours for tapping the waterway system in their jurisdictions.
He also stressed upon the importance of undertaking the techno-economic feasibility studies to ensure that the planning, estimation, development, and execution of any project is done in a comprehensive and prudent manner.
A total of 124 participants from Central Government, State Government and UT Governments attended the meeting. Fiinews.com
