The Inland Waterways Bill, to convert 101 rivers across the country into transport channels, will be introduced in Parliament on April 20, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.
Gadkari said that advanced level talks are underway on setting up five more major ports in the country. “Two of which have already been announced in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and have an estimated investment of Rs16,000 crore,” he said.
At present, there are 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, VO Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia).
The existing five inland waterways would be developed on a public-private-partnership mode next year.