The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is gearing up to offer a safe and convenient choice of transport to the pilgrims of the Kumbh Mela. The Vice Chairman of IWAI and the Project Director of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (Varanasi-Haldia, river Ganga), Pravir pandey, in a tête-à -tête with Ankita Saxena, discusses the thrust of the Government on developing waterways in the country
The logistics sector in India witnessed a new high recently, when the Kolkata-Varanasi and the Kolkata-Patna container cargo route was made operational by IWAI. After this successful endeavour, IWAI is now also assisting with passenger transportation during the largest social congregation, at the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. Pravir Pandey, shares the plans in place for a safe and effective mode of transport for pilgrims and elaborates on the big plans towards making the cost-effective and environment friendly, inland waterways a flourishing new transport modal choice in India. Edited excerpts from the interview:
Every year, the Kumbh Mela receives a large influx of pilgrims to Varanasi. What practical interventions have been made by IWAI to transport the passengers through waterways?
In the past, IWAI provided the ferry services and channel markings during the Ganga Sagar mela at West Bengal and during the Prakash Parv at Patna. At the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, IWAI has set up four floating terminals, one each at Kilaghat, Saraswati Ghat, Naini Bridge and Sujawan Ghat. Further, we have placed two vessels— CL Kasturba and SL Kamla, for pilgrim’s movement. These vessels have a carrying capacity of 150-200 passengers and they are equipped with all necessary safety measures. In addition, navigational aids will be maintained between Prayagraj and Varanasi with the targeted least available depth (LAD) of one meter. Five temporary jetties at Chatnag, Sirsa, Sitamarhi, Vindhyachal and Chunar have also been set up for the embarkment and disembarkment of the passengers. The services will run from January 15 to March 15. From Kilaghat, the pilgrims will be taken in a merry-go-round on small vessels for the sacred bath. This service will be scaled up during the days of the ‘Shahi Snan’. We believe that this service will not only reduce the stress on the cities during theKumbh Mela, but also offer a scenic and a convenient option to the devotees to enjoy the sacred fair.
Under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, one of the three multi-modal inland waterway terminals at Varanasi was recently inaugurated by the PM. What is the proposed operating model of these terminals?
It has been planned to give these terminals to the private players on a PPP mode. Yes, the Varanasi terminal is ready and inaugurated and we have already done the RFQ and are now going to issue the RPF after the approval from the competent authority. At the RFQ stage, we received interest from four big players—Dubai-based DP World, Singapore-based Portek in a joint-venture with India’s ACTL, and two other Indian companies—JM Baxi Group and IL&FS. These companies, after proving their technical qualification, will be given the task of Operation and Management (O&M) of the terminals. Keeping the base of the Model Concession Agreement of the Government of India, we will offer the terminals to private players for 30 years on royalty per ton of cargo on revenue sharing basis. Also, though we have completed the Phase-I of all these projects, the rest of the expansion of the terminals will be done by the private players. So, for the full capacity utilisation of the Varanasi terminal, there is still a need of investments worth Rs 350 crore, which will be borne by the private operators. This would result in saving the cost on behalf of the government.
Along the above multi-modal terminal at Varanasi, a Freight Village has also been planned. What are the reasons for choosing Varanasi for this project and what is expected from it?
A major challenge in the logistics industry is that of last-mile connectivity. Though the operating cost on waterways is much cheaper than other modes of transportation, the cost of loading and unloading of cargo is substantial. We are trying to address this issue with a Freight Village at Varanasi which will serve as a cargo hub and a centre for cargo aggregation and value addition. It will also supplement the development of a professional logistics industry in the city, which will be crucial for the full capacity utilisation of the multi-modal terminal on river Ganga. This logistic hub will be developed over 100 acres of land and will become a designated area where facilities for various modes of transportation, distribution of goods and other logistics are available in a synchronised manner on a large scale. We will develop the necessary infrastructure at more locations for the private players to operate. We have assessed a direct employment generation of 200,000 people and the indirect employment can reach up to 10 lakh persons as the private players will operate it later on. Varanasi proved to be ideal for such a project since it is strategically located as a focal point in the logistics chain of the Eastern Transport Corridor of the country where the National Waterways-1, the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC), the National Highway-7 and the National Highway-2 pass through.
The Government has laid a lot of emphasis on connectivity for the north eastern region. There is talk of developing floating terminals in Arunachal Pradesh. What are your plans for this region?
We are currently operating vessels on river Brahamputra (National Waterways-2) from Dhubri to Sadiya. We already have a multi-modal terminal at the Pandu Port. Currently, in association with the World Bank, we are trying to explore the possibility of a return cargo from the North East on NW-2 to make it more viable. Another important aspect of developing the north eastern region is the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. We are facing some draft issues on the Meghna river and to address that, a joint dredging operation will be executed there in cooperation with Bangladesh. We can transport cargo from Varanasi to Sadia in Assam, opening access to 4,000 km of waterways. We are also exploring an alternate route to the North East via the Sittwe Port in Myanmar. This is the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project, which is being developed at a cost of Rs 1,900 crore. It includes a sea port at Sittwe, development of 158 km of the Kaladan river going north, and an inland waterway terminal at Paletwa. It also includes development of 109 km of road to connect with Zorinpui in Mizoram. Once operational, which should be very soon, this crucial route will give ease access to the north eastern part of the country.
You mentioned that using the waterways as a means of transport can help reduce the carbon footprint of the cargo industry, significantly. On these lines, IWAI had recently announced a pilot project to demonstrate methanol as a maritime fuel. What is the update on this?
Crucial steps have been taken to encourage research on using methanol as a maritime fuel and for riverine vessels. We have given three of our work boats to retrofit engines and six low draft cargo vessels of 1,000-2,000 tonnes capacity to the Cochin Shipyard that will use methanol as fuel with technology from Sweden. Methanol can be a game changer as the cost of the fuel is just Rs 26 a litre. The roadmap for this project is being spearheaded by the Union Minister for Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, who is really passionate about making shipping on the national waterways an economically cheaper and an environment friendly transport option. Under his guidance, we are working on fuel bunkering facilities at intervals of about 500 km on the entire 1,600 km Haldia-Varanasi stretch for ships running on methanol.
WAI aims to increase the cargo transportation through IWT on National Waterways in the country from 55 million tonnes currently to 150 million tonnes by 2023, but do we have enough vessels to meet this target? What are the plans in place to add more vessels, if any?
We believe that this target is achievable. Yes, the fact is that currently, we have very few vessels to transport cargo on all the rivers. At the moment, IWAI has 15 operating vessels, which carry items like fly ash, coal, fertilisers and so on. We believe that 1,200-2,400 tonnnes vessels will be required to meet the target by 2023. Though our primary job is to make the waterways navigable and equipped for vessels to sail, we have taken a big step towards building confidence in the key players to use waterways as their choice for transportation. Through the World Bank procurement process, we engaged DST Germany, to design ideal ships for the river Ganga. DST Germany has come up with 13 class of ships, ideally suited for the river Ganga which include bulk cargo ships, barge, container ships and car carriers. These require a low draft but have a carrying capacity ranging from 600 to 2,450 tonnes of cargo. After due diligence with IIT Kharagpur, we have displayed these General Arrangement designs, free of cost on our website, so that any ship builder can refer to them. To give you an estimate, an investment of Rs 30-50 lakh is needed to design a new ship. That is a direct saving that would accrue to the private sector, who would use the DST Germany designs to manufacture riverine vessels. Though IWAI will also procure around 15-20 vessels, I strongly believe that it is the private sector, which will have to take lead to make this sector more lucrative.