The Centre on Wednesday approved a proposal to allocate 2.5 per cent of the Central Road Fund (CRF), for National Waterways. The CRF comes to about Rs 25,000 crore annually out which Rs 2000 crore would now every year go for the development of waterways.
At the same time the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved a commensurate reduction in the Centre’s share for development of National Highways.
The Government has been emphasising on the importance of developing the inland water transport sector. The National Waterways Act, 2016 for developing and maintaining the existing five NWs and 106 new NWs has already been enforced. The arrangement approved by the Cabinet would make available adequate and sustainable source of funding for NWs through institutional means of the CRF.
The CRF is a non-lapsable fund created under Section 6 of the Central Road Fund Act, 2000 out of a cess/tax imposed by the Centre on the consumption of petrol and high speed diesel to develop and maintain NHs, State and rural roads, railway under/over bridges etc.
The proposal was jointly mooted by the Ministries of shipping and road transport and highways for amendment of Central Road Fund Act, 2000 for development and maintenance of National Waterways. “An allocation of 2.5 per cent of CRF proceeds would provide approximately Rs 2,000 crore per annum for the development and maintenance of NWs at existing rates of duties funding the CRF,” said an official of Road Ministry.
The Cabinet has also directed that while implementing viable National Waterways projects, all such components that can be done on PPP (public private partnership) basis should be explored and Government funding be used only if private investment is not forthcoming.
“This is one more step towards promotion of the inland water transport sector as a cost effective, logistically efficient and environment-friendly sector which would contribute in diverting traffic from the over-congested roads and railways. It will also offer an incentive and provide certainty for private companies to invest in the sector,” said the official.
It is estimated that a standard 2,000 DWT vessel has the potential to transport 125 truck loads and almost one complete train rake (40 rail wagons) load. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has estimated that approximately Rs 25,000 crore would be required for development of identified projects on NWs till 2022-23.