With a focus on promoting water transport to propel economic growth, the Government has set an ambitious target to convert 101 rivers into waterways. The Centre is putting together a Bill to convert rivers across the country into waterways and aiming to table it in the upcoming Session of Parliament.
“We have moved the Cabinet note in this regard. We will try to introduce it in this (upcoming) Session,” said Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping.
He said that promoting waterways was the top-most priority of his Ministry, which has identified 101 rivers to be converted into waterways, which was cheaper mode of transport. Gadkari did not specify any deadline for the project.
“Transportation costs through waterways come to barely 30 paise a km in comparison to Rs1 a km through railways and Rs1.5 a km through road. Unfortunately this mode of transport is yet to be tapped in our country,” said Gadkari.
“In China, transportation of goods constitutes 44 per cent of the total transportation in comparison to a minimal 3.3 per cent in our country,” he said. The Government has so far declared only five river stretches as waterways, which is not even a quarter of all water channels in India.
Inland waterways comprising rivers, lakes, canals, creeks, backwaters extend to about 14,500 km in the country. However, potential of this mode of transport has not been fully exploited so far. The Government has already decided to launch a scheme, PM Jal Marg Yojna, and projects for setting up dry and satellite ports, besides converting riverways into waterways.
Recently, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) signed a pact with Odisha Government, Paradip Port and Dhamra Port to develop commercially viable stretches of National Waterway 5. In the National Waterway-5, East Coast Canal has been integrated with Brahmini river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km). Also, a project to develop National Waterways -4, Sholinganallur-Kallapakkam stretch of South Buckingham Canal has been sanctioned.